SELAYANG: Kuala Lumpur ended Negri Sembilan's unbeaten run in the Premier League with a 3-2 win on Monday to replace their vanquished opponents at the top of the standings.
Both KL and Negri have 32 points from 15 matches but the city team have a better goal differences to take top spot.
Perak State Economic Development Corporation and Terengganu closed in on 31 points after beating Sabah 3-1 and Armed Forces 2-0, respectively, to leave the top four teams separated by just a point in the race for promotion to the Super League.
After Guilherme De Paula gave KL a 10th-minute lead with a low flying header at the Selayang Stadium, the match exploded into life in the final 12 minutes of normal time.
Paulo Josue struck twice in the 78th and 81st minutes to seemingly put KL on course for a comfortable win but Negri rattled the home side by pulling two goals back through Bruno Castanheira (84th) and Farderin Kadir (90th).
De Paula, however, had a chance to kill the game late on but fired wide after twisting and turning the Negri defenders with the goal at his mercy.
"We beat a good Negri team and it is great that we are on top which shows that KL have a good team," said KL coach Fabio Magrao. "But we have a lot of matches still to play and we cannot get comfortable."