KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 11 — Brazilian Renan Alves was the toast of Kedah tonight when he delivered the winning goal to beat Perak 3-2 and clinched the Super League runners-up title while confirming Kedah’s berth to the 2021 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup championship.
It was a sweet victory for Kedah who rose to garner five wins in six matches as the surprise runners-up after being stranded in the seventh spot when competition was postponed in March following the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the game at Perak Stadium tonight, the visitors opened the score via Kpah Sherman in the 28th minute before Mohd Fadzrul Danel Mohd Nizam put Kedah comfortably ahead with a 2-0 lead three minutes later.
However, Perak bounced back to net two goals at the end of the first half after Leandro Dos Santos calmly converted a penalty in the 42nd minute before heading in the equaliser during injury time.
The winning goal of the squad under Aidil Sharin Sahak in the second half was through an Alves header who was quick to find the right spot from a corner kick by Baddrol Bakhtiar and confirmed the AFC Cup ticket for Kedah.
With the defeat at home, Perak met another misfortune when their third placing in the league was overtaken by Terengganu FC (TFC) who came back from one goal down to beat Pahang 2-1 at Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium.
Midfielder Nik Muhammad Sharif Haseefy Mohd Lazim had put Pahang in the lead through a shot outside the penalty box in the 12th minute but four minutes later, TFC equalised via a penalty by Dominique Da Sylva.
Team captain, Lee Tuck emerged as the hero of the Turtles when he pushed in a cross from a teammate in the 82nd minute for TFC to close the curtain for the season with six wins from 11 matches with19 points.
In this regard, a postponed match, between Sabah and Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) will be the closing game for the Super League season. — Bernama
