Kedah nearly allowed their lapse in concentration to undo their good work, but ultimately held on to overcome Pahang and advance to the quarter-finals
Kedah nearly allowed their lapse in concentration to undo their good work against Pahang, but ultimately held on to overcome the visitors 3-2 and advance to the quarter-finals of the Malaysia Cup.
KEDAH
Azri Ghani – 7/10
The young custodian did not have a tough night in overall thanks to his defenders, but should have done better to keep out the two goals that they did concede.
Rizal Ghazali – 7/10
A decent night for the right back, who managed to keep the visitors and the very physical Dickson Nwakaeme from attacking down his flank.
Renan Alves – 6/10
The centre back made what could have been a straight forward win a little harder, his desperate tug on Adam Reed in the second half when they were already leading 3-1 gifting the visitors a penalty. Fortunately for Alves and his team, Dickson Nwakaeme was not able to convert the spot kick.
Irfan Zakaria – 6/10
A slightly underwhelming shift by the centre back, who allowed the Elephants to score two goals and win one penalty having trailed by three goals at halftime.
Shakir Hamzah – 8/10
The leftback performed adequately to keep Pahang attackers out of his flank, and to also come away with a goal.
Amirul Hisyam – 6/10
The defensive midfielder combined well with Baddrol to help Kedah’s defence and attack, although his concentration did drop off towards the end of the match.
Baddrol Bakhtiar – 7/10
Kedah’s victory was obtained chiefly through their midfielder’s dominance, especially in the first half. They were constantly in shape and awareness of the options that they had, allowing them to threaten the Pahang defence often. Their skipper Baddrol performed well to organise their engine room, and even came away with an assist that led to the opening goal of the match.
Amin Adam – 7/10
A slightly quiet night for the midfielder, but he nevertheless performed sufficiently well to help them record a win and advance to the quarter-finals.
Faizat Ghazli – 7/10
The right winger was not the most eye-catching player for his team, but did well enough to contribute to their win, with his runs down the flank to open up space and one assist.
Kpah Sherman – 8/10
Combined well with Kipre again to bag two goals between them, with Sherman netting one himself.
Tchetche Kipre – 8/10 (Man of the Match)
The Ivorian forward had a good night to assist one goal and bag one himself, although he had two successive chances in the second half that went begging.
Tchetche Kipre. Photo by Sports Regime
Substitutions:
Azamuddin Akil, Hadin Azman, Alif Yusof, Fadzrul Danel – NA
Late changes.
PAHANG
Helmi Eliza – 6/10
The goalkeeper made a number of saves, but ultimately let in three goals against his former side.
S. Kumaahran – 6/10
A night to forget for the right back.
Herold Goulon – 5/10
The centre back could not organise his defence well enough to keep the very dangerous Sherman and Kipre out.
Muslim Ahmad – 6/10
His defence work was underwhelming, but the centre back did help his team get back in the match with his early second half goal.
Fazly Mazlan – 5/10
The experienced left back failed to keep the Kedah attackers away from his area.
Adam Reed – 6/10
The midfielder had a tough night against the superior midfield department of Kedah, but worked hard nevertheless in the later stages of the match, to win a penalty.
Azam Azih – 7/10
It was far from the midfielder’s best game, but he still managed to contribute with two assists.
Faisal Halim – 5/10
The nippy attacker was not at his best in the match, and his contributions were minimal
Nik Sharif – 6/10
The left winger turned in another promising performance in his breakout season, his shift in the first half the main source of Pahang’s attempts in the first half, but ultimately he could not be more effective for them in the match.
Ivan Carlos – 5/10
The forward was too isolated from the rest of his team’s attack and was ineffective throughout the match, and was taken off midway through the second half
Dickson Nwakaeme – 5/10
The striker did well enough to hold the ball up throughout the match, but disappointed his teammates with his distributions. He then further let them down when he failed to put away their second half penalty.
Substitutions:
Faizal Rani – 6/10
The late-game substitution took his chance well to net his team’s second goal of the night and give them the motivation to push for a late equaliser.
R. Dinesh – NA
A second half change that could not provide a bigger impact on Pahang.
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