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Pahang beat Kedah on penalties following a 2-2 draw after extra-time in Thursday's play-off to book their spot in next season's Malaysia Super League.Hafiz Kamal opened the scoring for Pahang in the seventh minute when he curled home a terrific 35-yard freekick from the right.
Russian forward Boris Kochkin then doubled their lead two minutes before the break when he clinically dispatched a penalty past Abdul Hadi Abdul Hamid, after Saifulnizam Miswan had been hauled down by Fauzie Nan inside the area.
Despite now having a mountain to climb if they were to keep alive their Super League status, Hijau-Kuning refused to give in and pulled one back in the 49th minute when Khyril Muhymeen Zambri glanced home a good delivery from Baddrol Bakhtiar.
Eight minutes after the hour mark, Baddrol then equalised when he struck a 30-yard freekick that took a bounce before creeping into the far corner, although Pahang custodian Wan Azraei Wan Teh would feel he could have done better to handle the shot from the Kedah captain.
With neither side able to find the winner in the remainder of the 90 minutes, the match then went into extra-time and nine minutes in, Kedah were reduced to ten men when Khyril received his second yellow for handball.
Nonetheless, Pahang were unable to make their numerical advantage count and had a man sent off themselves when R. Gopinathan picked up a second booking.
And despite the game opening up with only 19 players on the field, both sides were still unable to find the breakthrough, leaving their fates to be decided by the dreaded penalty shootout.
Khairul Helmi Johari was unable to capitalise for Kedah when his attempt was saved, allowing Pahang captain Jalaluddin Jaafar to step up and convert to successfully seal his side's promotion to the Super League.
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