* Pahang come back from two goals down to beat Sime Darby 4-2
* JDT beat Sarawak 2-0 to keep pace
* Kelantan see red as the Red Warriors edge Perak 1-0
* Terengganu outgun Armed Forces
SIME DARBY grabbed a 2-0 lead by the 13th minute but could not last the pace as Pahang came back strongly for a 4-2 win to keep their two point lead at the top of the Super League when the league resumed on Saturday with 36 points after 16 matches.
At the State Stadium in Kuching defending champions Johor Darul Takzim kept their hopes of retaining the title alive with six more matches to go – thanks to goals by Amri Yahyah after 64 minutes before prolific scorer Luciano Figueroa struck the second deep into injury time which gave the Southern Tigers 34 points.
Plantation giants Sime Darby will head to the lower tier Premier League without a win after 16 matches but were themselves shocked to be leading 2-0 against Pahang after only 13 minutes with a brace by Marko Perovic who opened scoring after 10 minutes and added a second three minutes later.
But that was all Sime Darby could do against the Elephants who are known for their tremendous fighting spirit. Jamaican Damion Stewart narrowed the deficit for Pahang on 30 minutes and that was all the visitors need to swing the match in their favour at the Selayang Stadium.
The second half belonged to Pahang as Argentine striker Matias Conti hi a brace – in the 59th and 67th minutes before Fauzi Rozlan completed the scoring in the 74th minute.
There was plenty of drama at the Sultan Mohd IV Stadium in Kota Bahru with Kelantan running out 1-0 winners over Perak in an ill-tempered match which also saw Norfarhan Mohammad get the sack in the second half for a second yellow card.
International Wan Zack Haikal fired an unstoppable shot on 72 minutes after Perak goalkeeper Zamir Selamat managed to block an earlier attempt. The match also irked Perak by some poor decisions by the match referee.
“A draw should have been a fair result. We should not have lost the match as we played rather well despite not having some of our key players who were injured. Still, I am proud of my young players who gave a good account of themselves,” said Perak coach Datuk M. Karathu.
Among those injured were skipper Nasir Basharuddin, Thiago Junior, Charles Chad Souza and Nurridzuan Abu Hassan.
Terengganu whipped the day lights out of Armed Forces at Stadium Tuanku Abdul Rahman in Paroi, Seremban with a 5-1 win – with the Turtles riding on a hattrick by Canadian international Issey Nakajima Farran who took over the scoring after Ismail Faruqi opened the floodgates in the 15th minute.
Abdulafees Abdsalam gave Armed Forces a glimmer of hope with the equaliser in the 23rd minute but it turned out to be a false call. Gustavo Lopez regained the lead for the Turtles with a booming freekick on 49th minute and it was one way traffic from there on.
Troubled Selangor escaped with a very lucky draw to share the spoils with Police after a 1-1 draw at the Shah Alam Stadium – thanks to nippy Andik Vermansyah who netted a last minute goal equaliser. Police went ahead after nine minutes through their Maldives international Ashfaq Ali.
Felda United will play Lions XII at the Jalan Besar Stadium in Singapore tonight.
