A last-gasp equaliser from Thiago Junio gave a relieved Perak a 2-2 draw at PKNS in the first leg of the Malaysia Cup semifinal on Friday evening at the Hang Jebat Stadium in Malacca.

Gabriel Guerra's brace looked to have put PKNS, a second tier team, in front in the tie but PKNS hearts were broken by the injury-time header. It deprived the Premier League side, who have already knocked Felda United and Terengganu out of this year's competition, of another impressive win against a Super League team.

The first half was a low-key affair played at an almost completely empty arena. Perak almost silenced it further with an early attempt but Elias's low shot from the right side of the area was well-saved by G. Jeevananthan.

PKNS were furious after 18 minutes as Juan Manuel Cobelli's header beat the goalkeeper but the Argentine attacker was adjudged to have been slightly offside when the ball was played in.

Perak came closest as the half came to an end. A clever cross from Erick Weeks Lewis was met by Thiago Junio. But the close range header bounced up sharply from the turf to be turned away smartly by Hafizul Hakim.

With seconds remaining before the break, the hosts had the best chance of the match. Nizam Abu Bakar freed Shahurain Abu Samah down the right and the number seven's inswinging cross was a thing of beauty. It found Cobelli on the far side of the six yard box. While the South American climbed above the Perak defence well, his header came back across goal and just cleared the near post.

If the first half was quiet, the second was anything but.

Three minutes after the restart and PKNS were ahead. Cobelli went down under a challenge in the area and the referee pointed to the spot. Guerra stroked the kick high into the net past Hafizul.

It woke the visitors up. Shortly after, Perak almost hit back through a long-range free-kick from Nurridzuan that Jeevananthan just managed to touch onto the post.

Within two minutes, Nurridzuan made no mistake. The midfielder lost his marker to head a right-sided corner emphatically into the net from the right corner of the six yard area.

With 20 minutes remaining the Premier League side restored their lead. The bounce of a long ball deceived Perak defender Sharul Shad and there was Guerra to steal in. The Argentine rounded the goalkeeper around the left side of the side yard box, cut back and, despite the close attention of desperate Perak defenders, passed the ball into the back of the net.

In injury time, Perak equalised. Hafiz Ramdan crossed from the left and Thiago Junio was there to send a bullet header past the PKNS shot stopper.

The first leg of the second semifinal takes place on Saturday as Kedah host Johor Darul Ta'zim while PKNS travel to Perak for the second leg on April 30.

Source:
courtesy of ESPNFC

by John Duerden

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