They were down to 10 players after 54 minutes following a red card to Farid Ramli and were 3-1 down after 56 minutes of play but Police staged a remarkable fightback for a 4-3 win over Felda United in a Group D Malaysia Cup match at the Hang Jebat Stadium on Wednesday.
The win hauled the Cops back in contention for a place in the knockout stage after a 3-1 defeat to Melaka United at the same venue in their opening match.
This time The Cops came out firing on all fronts, including a double-barrel from R. Gopinathan in a space of ten minutes – in the 78th and 88th minutes – before Azmizi Aziz fired the fatal shot deep into five minutes of added time to down The Fighters 4-3.
The remarkable comeback showed the character of Police under coach E. Elavarasan who had taken The Cops back to the elite Super League next season. The vastly traveled and experienced Elavarasan had successful stints with teams like Terengganu, Felda, and Melaka.
Felda started off with a bang when S. Chanturu gave his team the lead as early as the ninth minute and added two more for a 3-1 lead by the 56th minute with a brace by Singaporean international Khairul Amri who got his first in the 18th.
In between Liberian hitman, Patrick Ronaldinho Wleh reduced the deficit via a header in the 37th minute. The rest is history for a win that puts Police to put themselves back on track to vie for a top-two place in the group.
At the City Stadium in a Group C match, it was heartbreak for newly promoted Sabah when the Rhinos crashed to a 2-1 defeat to Penang through an own goal by Sabah defender Evan Wensley in the 73rd minute.
Argentine striker Julian Bottaro put Penang in the lead after minutes but hit back to draw level through their Serbian import Rodoljub Paunovic via a penalty in the 48th minute.
It was Sabah’s second defeat in a row after losing 3-0 to defending champions Perak 3-0 in their first match.
Negri Sembilan also crashed to their second straight defeat at home at the Tuanku Abdul Rahman Stadium in Paroi – this losing 1-2 to Selangor outfit PKNS FC in Group A encounter. In the first match, Negri lost 1-3 to Kedah.
Six-time Super League match at the Larkin Stadium in Johor Bahru, Johor Darul Takzim kept their winning ways. The Southern Tigers notched a 4-2 win over Petaling Jaya City FC for their second straight win at home.
Safawi Rashid (6th), Diogo Luis Santo (47th and 72nd) and Gonzalo Cabrera were the goal scorers for JDT while PJ City replied through Brandao Washington and R. Barathkumar in this Group B match. RIZAL ABDULLAH
