Despite playing their home match some 362 kilometers away from their actual home stadium, Kedah FA managed to snag all three points in their Monday night Liga Super Malaysia clash against Sabah FA. The Red Eagles triumphed 3-1 over their visitors from Borneo in the Matchweek 8 tie at the KLFA Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, with Kedah’s African duo Kipre Tchetche and Kpah Sherman once again shining brightly for Aidil Shahrin Sahak’s men.
The city of Alor Setar, where Kedah were based at, had been placed in lockdown by the Malaysian authorities following an increase of COVID-19 cases within the region since September 10th, which prohibits people from leaving and entering the area in question. This meant that Kedah were forced to seek an alternate venue for their home match against Sabah and they’ve elected to use the KLFA Stadium in Kuala Lumpur to host Sabah on Monday.
Having won four of their last four matches, Kedah were determined to make if five out of five and that’s just what the Red Eagles did on Monday. Playing underneath heavy rain that poured over Kuala Lumpur, Kedah took the lead in the 26th minute through former PKNS FC player Sherman, who headed in a cross from former Terengganu FC man Kipre. However just two minutes after Kedah had opened the scoreline, Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto’s Sabah struck back. Thai-German midfielder Dennis Buschening took advantage of a skirmish in front of the Kedah goal, with the former Chainat Hornbill man lapping up the ball scrambled to him by Rodoljub Paunovic and firing off a shot that left Kedah goalkeeper Shahril Saa’ri utterly defeated.
Despite this setback, Kedah wrestled control of the match once again in the second half, scoring a quick-fire double in the space of four minutes to well and truly seal the tie in their favor. The Red Eagles reassumed leadership of the scoreline in the 71st minute after Kipre smashed in a left-footed shot that went beyond the reaches of Sabah custodian Rozaimie Rohim, with 21-year old midfielder Fayadh Zulkifli being credited with the assist. Fayadh then turned from provider into scorer in the 75th minute, outpacing both Randy Baruh and Buschening before smashing home a powerful shot that sealed all three points for Kedah.
The 3-1 win meant that Kedah remain on 2nd place in the Liga Super table with 16 points, tailing runaway leaders Johor Darul Ta’zim by 6 points with only three more games to go. Sabah, on the other hand, remain second-bottom with a mere 6 points to their name.