KUALA LUMPUR: Kelantan dropped into the danger zone for the first time this season as Penang's two-year stay in the Malaysian Super League ended with relegation on Wednesday.
Sarawak moved out of the bottom two places after a stirring fight-back from 2-0 down at half-time to beat Kedah 4-2 in Kuching as Kelantan could only draw 0-0 with PKNS in Kota Baru.
A year after beating the drop on the final day of the season, there was no escape for Penang this time as a 1-0 defeat to Perak in Ipoh condemned them to the Premier League next season.
Kuala Terengganu T-Team are also not safe, sitting three points above 11th-placed Kelantan and two clear of Sarawak, following a 1-0 home defeat by Pahang.
With an inferior goal difference, T-Team would be relegated if they lost to Sarawak in Kuching on the final day of the season on Oct 28 and Kelantan beat Melaka away.
Melaka, meanwhile, extended their stay in the top-flight by beating Selangor 2-1 at the Hang Jebat Stadium.
Sarawak's survival prospects looked bleak as they trailed 2-0 at the break after Ken Ilso and Baddrol Bakhtiar scored for Kedah at the State Stadium.
But Nur Syamie Iszuan Amin's first goal of the season eight minutes after half-time sparked a turnaround which saw Sarawak net three times in 12 minutes.
Mateo Roskam then drew Sarawak level from the penalty spot in the 59th minute before the Croatian forward put the home side ahead four minutes later.
After Baddrol was sent off for a second booking 15 minutes from time, Kedah were punished further a minute later when Hairol Mokhtar made it 4-2 for Sarawak.
Kelantan spurned a chance to claim three points right at the death in Kota Baru as Margaro Gomis saw his header came back off the post, just minutes after PKNS midfielder K. Gurusamy rocked the Kelantan crossbar.
Nizad Ayub's 24th-minute winner lifted Perak to fifth place, above Selangor who slumped to a fifth consecutive defeat in all competitions.
Jasmin Mecinovikj and Marko Simic scored in the first half for Melaka before Rufino Segovia halved the deficit after the break.
Matheus Alves scored his 18th league goal to almost guarantee Pahang will finish runners-up to champions Darul Ta'zim with their win over T-Team.