Johor Darul Ta’zim continues to strengthen their grip at the top of the League after beating Penang FC, 1-0 in the Liga Super Malaysia at the Bandaraya Stadium, Pulau Pinang.
In the action regarding Penang FC, they appeared in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Khairul Rokisham as the captain of the team and continued to drive the defense assisted by Christian Rontini with the task of being the permanent striker under Lucas Silva Hilal and Hilal El-Helwe.
JDT clearly controlled the match and were wise to make a lot of dangerous attempts apart from launching a barrage of attacks that almost put them ahead in the first half.
The South Tiger squad attempted to break into the home goal as early as the 11th minute with Fernando Martin Forestieri slapping the ball into the opponent’s goal before Hong Wan spread right at the goalkeeper, Hafizul Hakim.
Penang had the opportunity to make two free kicks in the 16th and 25th minutes respectively through Gopi Rizqi and Adib Ra’op but failed to produce results.
Unfortunately for Gopi Rizqi, he was unable to continue his action tonight due to an injury so he had to be carried out in the 32nd minute and his place was replaced by T. Saravanan.
The Tiger Beetle squad was seen to be defending well and occasionally counterattacked although the Southern Tigers seemed to be holding the ball more often with their agile players closing off Penang’s chances of trying to score goals.
Continuing the second half of the Penang match, they got another free kick in the 54th minute, but Hilal El-Helwe’s strong bridle far strayed off the goal barrier of the visiting troops.
JDT’s agile winger Arif Aiman helped put his squad in front through a cross which Rodrigue perfected with a header right into the home side in the 69th minute.
The decision remained 1-0 so the match ended in action witnessed by a crowd of 6,252 last night.
Credit Photo : JST
