By ERIC SAMUEL

 PETALING JAYA: Lions XII punished Pahang’s porous defence to chalk up a comfortable 3-0 win in a Super League match at the Jalan Besar Stadium last night. 

The Elephants were completely outplayed and there was nothing coach Dollah Salleh could do as his suspect backline conceded three soft goals by Faris Ramli (13th), Safuwan Baharuddin (65th) and Fazrul Nawas (77th). 

The Pahang defence, led by skipper Jalaluddin Jaafar and Saifulnizam Miswan, struggled to contain the Lions’ onslaught and were lucky not to lose by a bigger margin. 

An unmarked Faris left the home fans in a frenzy when he scored from close range in the 13th minute.  

Pahang defender Saifulnizam cleared the first attempt at goal but Faris stabbed home on the rebound. 

The visitors’ fleet-footed attack led by Mohd Fauzi Roslan, Azamuddin Akil and R. Gopinathan failed to impress in the opening half as they hardly created any scoring chances. 

National striker Azamuddin squandered the best chance with only Lions XII goalkeeper Mohd Izwan Mahbud to beat in the 39th minute. 

The Lions could have increased the score at the stroke of half-time but Shafiq Ghani ballooned from close range after beating two defenders. 

The home team grew stronger after the break and added two more goals through Safuwan and Fazrul who scored from free headers in the 65th and 77th minutes. 

In an earlier match, PKNS FC defeated a 10-man Felda United 3-1 at the MBPJ Stadium in Kelana Jaya. 

Mohd Helmi Remeli (32nd), Patrick Ronaldinho Wleh (44th) and Nazrin Syamsul Bahari (55th) scored for PKNS while the visitors reduced the deficit through Mohd Ghaddar Mahmoud (33rd).  

Felda’s Mohd Nizam Abu Bakar was sent off for a second bookable offence in the 32nd minute.

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