Friday’s Group A Malaysia Cup clash between Selangor outfit PKNS FC (Red Ants) and Kedah (Red Eagles) at the Shah Alam Stadium has drawn much focus after Kedah’s shock defeat at home to Terengganu in their last match before the Aidil Adha break.
 
Kedah, winners of the FA Cup this year after defeating Perak 1-0 in the final at the National Stadium, slumped to an embarrassing 2-0 defeat to Terengganu at the Darulaman Stadium on Aug 8. 
 
More so when the Turtles carved out the win despite playing with only 10 players after goalkeeper Ilham Amirullah Razali was red-carded for a blatant foul on Farhan Roslan in the last minute before the halftime break. Ivory Coast striker Kipre Tchetche scored a brace for Terengganu in the second half.
 
For the match against PKNS, 2-1 winners over Negri Sembilan, go into the Kedah match on equal footing with three points each, separated by goals difference. Kedah is second in the table with a 3-3 tally against PKNS figures of 3-4.
 
In the four meetings so far between the two Reds, Kedah has not lost – winning both their encounters at Shah Alam while shared the spoils in Alor Setar.
 
Kedah’s Singaporean coach Aidil Sharin Sahak, however, will have his hands full in his match strategies without two of his pillars. Farhan has not recovered from his knee injury after the foul by Ilham while Azmeer Yusof is nursing an ankle injury. 
 
“The two are out of the match against PKNS but we have other players to take over from them. We have also out the defeat to Terengganu behind us and totally focused on taking full points at Shah Alam.
 
“Kedah has a good record at Shah Alam but we cannot ride on past records. This is the Malaysia Cup and it is a different ball game,” said Aidil, adding that defeating Negri Sembilan away is a morale booster for PKNS.
 
“We cannot take it easy against PKNS, always tough nuts to crack, both at home and away.” – BY RIZAL ABDULLAH
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