The crowd were barely in their seats when Negeri went ahead through Firdaus Ismail. Kunalan whipped in a long ball and Firdaus’ weak header was pushed into the net by Jeevanathan.
Selangor were stunned by that early goal and started to take a stranglehold in midfield with Safiq Rahim pulling the strings. The midfielder played a neat one-two with Croation striker Bosko Balaban but his shot was palmed away by Farishal Ismail for a corner.
Jeevanathan then did some justice for his earlier error by getting down quick enough to save Shauriddin’s attempt which was creeping in. Negeri were on the front foot now and Shahruain’s neat back flick was smashed only inches wide by Shakir with Jeevanathan well beaten.
The Deers deservedly went 2-0 ahead thanks to Jeevanathan’s costly error yet again. The Selangor goalkeeper could only palm away Shahurain’s weak header into Shakir’s path and the Negeri striker had no problem smashing home from six yards out. What’s more amazing is the custodian had the audacity to blame defender Dioub for not man-marking properly.
Selangor started the second half in similar lethargic fashion, with Safiq and Solihin failing to feed strikers Bosko Balaban and Amri Yahya with any decent opportunities. The Red Giants then lost Asaruddin through injury and he was replaced by Mohd Nasriq.
Selangor had the clearest opportunity to score on the hour mark when P.Gunalan played a superb 50 yard diagonal pass which put Bosko with only the keeper to beat, but Farishal got down superbly to tip away his effort for a corner.
Jeevanathan completed his hat-trick of fumbles to effectively seal Selangor’s defeat when Shakir’s weak effort from 25 yards out practically rolled into the net with the Selangor goalkeeper once again dumfounded.
Bosko Balaban pulled back a consolation goal for Selangor deep into injury time, chesting Safiq’s cross before finding the bottom corner with a firm grounder for his seventh goal of the season.
It was the only highlight in a limp Red Giants performance as Negeri Sembilan were indeed worthy winners, aided by horrendous goalkeeping by Selangor goalkeeper Jeevanathan.