Ifedayo Olusegun was the main man for Selangor FC on Saturday night as his hat-trick earned his team a comprehensive 3-1 victory over Perak FC at the Petaling Jaya Stadium in Matchweek 8 of the 2021 Liga Super Malaysia season. The Nigerian, who was registered as an AFC player by the Red Giants thanks to his Bahraini passport, has proven himself once again as one of the league’s deadliest finishers, with his treble of goals bringing his tally up to five this season and moving him to joint-2nd place in the race for the Liga Super Golden Boot.
The Red Giants went 1-0 up as soon as the 7th minute after Olusegun tapped in a Jordan Ayimbila cross into Hafizul Hakim’s goal, before Olusegun added to his tally with a 31st minute penalty following a foul within the area on Oliver Buff by Leandro Dos Santos.
Olusegun’s hat-trick was completed in the 71st minute, lashing in a header from a corner past Hafizul to cement Selangor’s dominance. Perak did pull one back in the first minute of injury time through Farid Khazali, however by then it was too little too late for the Bos Gaurus to salvage anything from the match. The three points meant that Selangor finished Matchweek 8 in 6th place, while Perak were stranded in 8th.
Saturday night’s action also saw defending Liga Super Malaysia champions Johor Darul Ta’zim hosting Petaling Jaya City at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium. PJ City have been known as JDT’s bogey team for the past couple of years, inflicting the Southern Tigers’ only defeat in the 2019 season before nicking a point off JDT in the shortened 2020 season. However the Phoenixes were unable to produce any surprises on Saturday as JDT confidently steamrolled them 3-0, with Bergson bagging himself a brace to establish himself as a frontrunner in the race for the Liga Super Golden Boot.
Other results on Saturday saw Kuala Lumpur City nicking a 2-1 home win over Sri Pahang FC and UiTM FC slumping to yet another defeat as Melaka United ran out 3-0 winners at the UiTM Stadium.
Matchweek 8 was wrapped up on Sunday with Penang FC hosting Sabah FC at the City Stadium in George Town. Both sides started their Indonesian players – with Ryuji Utomo marshaling the Penang defense while Saddil Ramdani led the attacking lines for Sabah. Saddil managed to give the Tembedau the lead in the 52nd minute with a worldie of a shot, however Casagrande managed to salvage a point for Penang in the 85th minute that ensured the Panthers would remain in the Liga Super top four at the end of the matchweek.