Three days after a disappointing result in the state of Pahang, Perak redeemed themselves with a superb attacking performance in the same state but this time at Tun Abdul Razak Stadium against Felda United to come away 3-2 winners on the night.
The result lifted Perak up from sixth place to fourth in the league standings, with rivals Melaka and Kedah still due to play on Wednesday. This is Perak’s third straight win in the league after earlier successes against PJ City FC and Terengganu FC.
Ronaldo Henrique Silva got the ball rolling in the 22nd minute before J. Partiban tapped in from close range in the 34th minute to give the visitors a two-goal lead at half time. Raianderson da Costa Morais (Careca) created a brilliant individual goal in the 53rd minute as Perak looked like they were strolling towards and easy three points on the road.
But Felda roared back late on through quickfire goals from Hadin Azman (81′) and Kei Ikeda (83′) to narrow the deficit to one. Mehmet Durakovic’s side held on to pick up valuable points but was left feeling slightly disappointed for not scoring more.
“For 80 minutes it was a fantastic game for us. We controlled the game, we should have scored more goals. At the end of the day credit to Felda who came back at us and scored two late goals. But overall we played fantastic football and we deserved three points,” said Durakovic after the match.
Perak will next face Pahang in the return fixture of the FA Cup semi-final encounter with The Elephants holding a vital 3-1 lead from the first leg. Dollah Salleh swapped out his entire starting XI for their match against Selangor while Durakovic only made three changes in his selection against Felda.
Hafizul Hakim, Nazirul Naim and Leandro dos Santos were the only ones who played in the first leg that did not start in Jengka. There are still some days left for recovery but Perak will undoubtedly go into the crunch second leg trailing Pahang not only in the score but also in freshness.
Follow Goal Malaysia on Instagram
Be the first to comment