KUCHING: Selangor FC cruised to a clinical 5-0 victory over the hosts Kuching City FC at Stadium Negeri here in Petra Jaya on Thursday’s night Malaysia Super League action.
The hosts never looked like they were in the match at all with two early goals from Selangor in the first half by Jordanian midfielder Noor Al-Rawabdeh and Colombian inside forward Ayron del Valle, before Noor-Al Rawabdeh, Selangor captain Brendan Gan and substitute forward Danial Asri racked up the score-line in the second half.
The Red Giants were unsurprisingly dominant on and off the ball since the first whistle with Il Gatto being a step slower in every exchange right from the start.
The early opener was created from a dead ball situation just three minutes into the game. Selangor defender Zikri Khalili swiftly threw in the ball as soon as the ball went out wide towards Ayron del Valle who made a cheeky back pass to Hein Htet Aung. The striker from Myanmar swiftly cut the ball back from the right side of the box to the middle and Noor Al-Rawabdeh just easily tapped the ball into the back of the net with Kuching City players caught napping in defence.
Although they went down early in the game, Kuching City did not give up just yet and a chance presented itself at the fifth minute when Adam Shreen fired a volley from the edge of the box after Selangor failed to cleanly clear the ball from a corner. Unfortunately, his long-range effort hit the post and Selangor just managed to get away without conceding as soon as they have just scored.
However, just mere three minutes later on the eighth minute, Selangor doubled the score-line through another well-worked move from the right. Faisal Halim burst down the right and put a square ball to Brendan who came to support him in the half space. With the ball at his feet, Brendan made a swift through ball to Ayron del Valle who then beat his marker Aylton Alemao before slotting in easily into the bottom left corner.
Selangor kept piling on the pressure for the rest of the first half with two efforts from Faisal and another one from Hein but it did not manage to enlarge the score-line before the referee blows the half-time whistle.
Selangor travelling fans did not have to wait long after the restart for Noor Al-Rawabdeh to meet a fine pass from Faisal Halim to finish a simple but effective move but this time from the left after Selangor made a high press to win the ball back in Kuching City’s own half.
Faisal and substitute Mukhairi Ajmal had chances in quick succession to extend Selangor’s lead, but the fourth goal, when it did come at the 64th minute, was the pick of the bunch.
The play started again from a dead ball situation down the right with defender Zikri Khalili throwing in the ball to Mukhairi Ajmal who cut the ball back into the middle to Faisal.
The ball was not received well by Faisal at his feet and when it was thought that he may have ran himself into trouble with a tight angle left for him to shoot from with Kuching City’s goalkeeper Norazlan Razali right in front of him, he squared it back to the far post to his captain Brendan for an easy tap-in into the empty net.
With 18 minutes left to play, there was still enough time for a fifth for Selangor at 72nd minute.
Zikri Khalili made an early cross into the box down the right flank which was skipped through by Mukhairi Ajmal with the ball landing on Danial Asri’s feet and he made no mistake right in front of the six-yard box with the goal gaping.
The 5-0 rout has moved The Red Giants into second place, just trailing behind Sabah FC who are the current leaders of the league by scoring a goal less while Kuching City dropped down to sixth after the heavy loss at home.
