Negeri Sembilan's bid to get promoted to next season's Malaysian Super League looks over after losing 3-1 to promotion rivals PKNP on Tuesday night.
Brazilian forward Gilberto Fortunato and new Malaysia international Shahrel Fikri Fauzi found the back of the net within minutes of each other to give PKNP an early 2-0 lead before Lee Tuck halved the deficit with an effort from outside the box in the 26th minute.
Asri Ninggal's side had several chances to equalise but were let down by their poor finishing, which was eventually punished by Gilberto with his second goal in the 63rd minute.
Gilberto was later involved in an altercation with Nik Shahrul Azim, resulting in both teams down to 10 men, which did little to change the final score.
With two games left in the 2017 Malaysian Premier League season, Negeri are now six points behind the automatic spots after current occupants Kuala Lumpur and Terengganu beat UiTM and MISC-MIFA respectively 2-1, while PKNP remain four points behind.
Kuala Lumpur were seemingly heading to a 1-1 draw after Guilherme de Paula cancelled out Akanni-Sunday Wasiu's opener, but UiTM goalkeeper Soffuan Tawil gave away an injury-time penalty against his former team.
After the goalkeeper was sent off for his second bookable offence, Guilherme stepped up to dispatch the penalty and strengthen their promotion chances.
As for Terengganu, goals from Tchetche Kipre and Issey Nakajima-Farran were enough to see off a late comeback by the relegation threatened MISC-MIFA, who scored a 88th-minute consolation through Kpah Sherman.
With the defeat, MISC-MIFA, who are two points from safety, missed an opportunity to climb out of the bottom two as 10th-place Perlis were demolished 5-1 at the Likas Stadium.
After a fairly tame first half with only a goal from Roduljub Paunovic to show for, Sabah pulled clear with Lee Gil-hoon's second-half hat-trick and another Paunovic strike, while Ndumba Makeche grabbed one back for the visitors.
Bottom-place ATM also did not take advantage of the Perlis defeat, needing a late goal from Sirojiddin Rakhmatullaev to draw 1-1 with Johor Darul Ta'zim II after conceding an own goal.
Besides Perlis, Kuantan should be relieved with the bottom two's results after being thrashed 5-3 by PDRM at the Hang Jebat Stadium.
Zulhamizan Zakaria's side were unable to stop Dao Bakary from scoring four goals, while Safuwan Baharudin netted the other for the Police, but Abdul Malik Mat Ariff's brace and an own goal made the scoreline more respectable in the eight-goal thriller.
Despite the defeat, with a six-point cushion above MISC-MIFA and ATM, Kuantan should be safe from being relegated to the FAM League.
Seng Foo Lee
Wed Sep 20 2017
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