Kuala Lumpur City FC started their Malaysia Cup defense in the best way possible on Thursday, seeing off the challenge of PDRM FC and beating them 3-0 in the first leg of their round of 16 tie. The City Boys had to contend with a resilient Cops side but in the end their quality shone through as Kuala Lumpur effectively had a strong foundation coming into November 1st’s second leg.
Shaking off the disappointment of losing the 2022 AFC Cup final to Oman’s Al-Seeb last week, Bojan Hodak’s Kuala Lumpur made the perfect response by surviving a stubborn PDRM side looking to upset the defending Malaysia Cup champs.
The Liga Premier Malaysia side threatened Azri Ghani’s goal early on through Martin Adamec and Alif Naqiuddin, however the former Kedah Darul Aman keeper stood strong and warded off the incoming threats perfectly.
Afterwards KL began to show their presence in the game, with Azim Rosli striking the crossbar in the 15th minute and a 35th minute attempt from Jordan Mintah being deflected by PDRM goalie Firdaus Irman.
With the first half seemingly destined to finish goalless, Romel Morales managed to break the deadlock late into stoppage time, allowing Kuala Lumpur to have the slender advantage coming into the break.
Romel’s goal gave the City Boys something to build upon in the second half and Kuala Lumpur managed to beat Firdaus twice during the second stanza, with captain Paulo Josue making it 2-0 in the 67th minute and Romel completing his brace in the 78th minute.
Thursday’s other Malaysia Cup match saw Terengganu FC effectively securing a ticket to the quarterfinal, with the Turtles going absolutely ballistic and thrashing hosts Sri Pahang FC 5-1 at the Darul Makmur Stadium. Liberian striker Kpah Sherman was the star of the match for Terengganu with his hat-trick.