Negeri Sembilan's hope of staying in the Super League took a big knock on Wednesday after they couldn't hold out a lead against Terengganu FC, eventually losing 3-2 at Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium.
Tchetche Kipre had opened the scoring in the 32nd minute, benefiting from some sloppy defending from the away side. Yet Negeri kept their heads up and managed to pull two quick goals back before the half time break.
On both occasions, Nicolas Velez was the quickest to react inside the penalty box to tap home clear openings and gave the visitors a remarkable lead going into half time. But all their hard work was to be undone when Kipre step up to the fore in the second period.
The striker from Ivory Coast converted a penalty kick in the 57th minute before producing a spectacular half volley on the turn in the 66th minute to seal all three points for TFC. The result puts Negeri further adrift from safety, six points behind PKNP FC.
Over at KLFA Stadium, a Shahrel Fikir-less PKNP managed to hold Kuala Lumpur to a 1-1 draw to maintain their 10th place position in the league standings.
A very good counter attacking move in the first half broke the deadlock when Paulo Josue's dummy allowed Indra Putra Mahayudin the simplest of task to sweep home the opening goal of the match in the 23rd minute.
Abu Bakar Fadzim's boys increased the pressure in the second half and eventually found the equaliser in the 80th minute, albeit through fortuitous circumstances. KL's own Saifulnizam Miswan put the ball past Sharbinee Allawee and into his own net when trying to clear a PKNP move.
After the completion of match day 17, KL remained in 8th spot, level on points with Selangor and Melaka United.