preview: PFA Odin V Pahang Rangers
Pahang look to move above JDT with a win for a few hours at least, while PFA need a win to keep alive their slim play-off hopes
Sunday's meeting in Pasir Gudang pits two sides with very different amounts riding on it. Pahang Rangers arrive third in the table on 31 points, comfortably positioned inside the top six with the automatic qualification places still a mathematical possibility above them, while PFA Odin Sarawak sit seventh on 9 points, three behind sixth-placed ATM with only a small handful of matches left to close the gap.
The two sides have already met once this season, Pahang winning 5-2 back in Circuit 4, Akmarulnizam Idris scoring twice either side of goals from Felipe De Souza, Tuah Eizlan and Syarifuddin Akhir, with Azrin Jefery and Aidil Putra replying for the hosts. Little in either club's form since suggests the gap between them has narrowed. Felipe De Souza and Rodrigo Da Silva have continued to share the bulk of Pahang's goals between them, a partnership that has produced 43 goals over the course of the season and shows no sign of easing off regardless of the stakes riding on any given match.
For PFA Odin Sarawak, the arithmetic is not yet impossible but is close to it. With only three matches remaining in the regular season, a maximum return of nine further points would take them to 18, above ATM and Terengganu’s current totals but requiring their rivals to collect almost nothing from three remaining fixtures of their own. Asyraff Bin Zakaris has been the closest thing PFA Odin Sarawak have had to a consistent performer this season, and a result here would need to be built on the kind of contribution he provided in the club's competitive draws with KL City and Terengganu earlier in the campaign rather than the heavier defeats that have characterised most of their meetings with sides in the top half.
Pahang could move above JDT for a few hours at least into second with a win. Victory would keep PFA Odin Sarawak's faint mathematical hopes technically alive heading into the season's final circuit; anything else would leave those hopes resting on results elsewhere that are increasingly unlikely to fall their way.
