IPOH, Oct 17 — A blunder by captain Shahrom Kalam backfired on Perak yet again as it threw away a one-goal lead to draw 1-1 with Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) in their Malaysia Cup first leg semifinal at Perak Stadium on Sunday.

However, Perak coach Mehmet Durakovic backs defender Shahrom over his error saying mistakes happen in football.

"Shahrom is a fantastic player and he is my captain. He plays for the national team and he is a good leader,” he said. "We are humans and make mistakes. It’s normal.

"It happens in football and I don’t blame anybody. My team gave 100 per cent and it’s a fair result.”

Perak took the lead in the 20th minute via an own goal by defender Hasbullah Abu Bakar, who directed Gilmar through pass to Zaquan Adha Abd Razak into his goal.

Perak, who qualified for Malaysia Cup semifinal after 10 years, failed to secure a one-goal cushion to Larkin Stadium in the return leg as Shahrom’s sloppy mistake was punished by Mohammed Ghaddar with an equaliser in the 68th minute.

Sunday’s was Shahrom’s third blunder with Perak in four months.

On July 11, his attempt on a back pass was intercepted by Francis Doe in a Super League match, which saw Perak losing 1-0 to Selangor in Ipoh.

Seven days later, Shahrom again made a similar mistake against Felda United in the Malaysia Cup in Jengka, where Perak threw away the lead and drew 1-1.

Durakovic said he will talk with Shahrom regarding his jinx after the recovery session.

"We will focus on our recovery first and then we will sit down talk about it,” he said.

Durakovic admitted the task is going to be difficult in the return leg as JDT has the advantage of an away goal.

"JDT is a good side and playing with it at Larkin with its supporters is not going to be easy,” he said.

"But, hopefully some of the injured players could be back as I believe it would help the team.”

Meanwhile, JDT coach Ulisses Manuel Nogueira Morais said he was not fully satisfied with the result as he believes his team could do better.

"We control the game and have more chance to score compared to Perak, but we were unlucky as we conceded an own goal,” he said.

However, Ulisses said the draw and an away goal advantage is a good achievement for the second game.

The second leg is on October 21.