Monday, 20 October 2014

Kedah 3-1 Pahang: Canaries take flight in Alor Setar

Cheng Hoe's plan worked wonders as the reigning Malaysia Cup champions were brushed aside


The first of the 2014 Malaysia Cup semi-final kicked off in Alor Setar where surprise package, Kedah took on reigning champions, Pahang. Stadium Darulaman has been a fortress for the Premier League side in this edition of the Malaysia Cup and The Elephants faced a tough task to find some advantage to take back to Kuantan and so it proved.

From the off, Kedah were looking to test the aerial capabilities of a Pahang side shorn of their best header of the ball in Damion Stewart, who is out on suspension. Baddrol Bakhtiar and Farhan Roslan took turns from the flanks to pump in the crosses but found little success with it.

Still, it was Kedah who took the lead just 9 minutes into the game when from a seemingly innocuous position halfway inside of Pahang’s half, Namkung Woong unleashed a powerful drive that rifled into the back of the net. Khairul Azhan was in disbelief and it’s hard to blame him, the ball was swerving wildly and the pace was just too much for the national keeper to react.

It was all Pahang after that as the visitors seeks to find the equaliser as Kedah looked contend to play on the counter. R. Gopinathan missed a sitter from Azamuddin Akil’s cross when it was easier to score while both Fauzi Roslan and Matias Conti shot high and wide after initial good work of getting past their respective markers.
The second began in similar fashion but there’s a heavy repercussion for Pahang’s attacking exploits. In the 49th minute, Gopinathan drove down to the byline to slide in a low cross which leads to a mad scramble inside of Kedah’s penalty box. However the Kedah defenders put their bodies on the line to block shots after shots.
Eventually the ball was cleared and it led to a quick counter attack from which Kedah earned their 2nd goal of the night. Baddrol received the ball wide on the left and delivered a sumptuous cross for the on-rushing Farhan to thunder in a header that again, left Khairul with no chance to save it. Tan Cheng Hoe’s plan had worked and now his team has a slightly more comfortable cushion to defend.

He will have to thank his defenders, in particular the centre back pairing of Adam Griffiths and Khairul Helmi who shut out the returning Matias Conti. They were well protected by hard work put in by the two full backs in Rizal Ghazali and Shafizan Hashim. Despite having more of the ball in the second half, Pahang just could not find enough creativity to fashion a chance to score.

With time ticking away, Pahang did find a goal that would more than make the second leg a contest. In stoppage time, Pahang were awarded a free kick just outside of Kedah’s penalty box. Conti’s shot was deflected into the bottom corner, to silence to raucous home crowd. However, that was not to be the last action of the night.
Forgotten man, Khyril Muhymeen stole in at the far post to get on the end of Syafiq Ahmad’s cross in the 94th minutes of game time to cap a wonderful performance from the home side and give them something more than a goal to defend with in the return leg. There would be little complain from Zainal Abidin Hassan, given how his team performed in this match but with the possible return of Stewart and Dickson Nwakaeme, he will not throw in the towel yet.

Lest Kedah forget, they themselves came back from 2 goals down in the first leg to reach this stage of the competition. All to play for in Kuantan on Friday.

http://www.goal.com/en-my/news/3896/malaysia/2014/10/19/5271871/kedah-3-1-pahang-canaries-take-flight-in-alor-setar

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