# Elephants on two-match playing tour of Hong Kong
# ‘Tough but we are ready for JDT’ – Dollah Salleh
By Rizal Abdullah
Pahang’s two match playing tour of Hong Kong during the M-League break is on despite fears of it being cancelled due to an oversight by the FA’s office on the FA Cup first-leg quarter-final dates.
The Elephants are scheduled to leave for Hong Kong on March 20 and will play two matches there, including one against Kitchee FC.
The luck of the draw has pitted defending champions Johor Darul Takzim (JDT) against Pahang in the FA Cup quarter-final – and the plum tie between the two football greats has drawn much attention.
JDT won the FA Cup last year with a 2-1 win over PKNS FC. Pahang, however, have been a pain for JDT in the FA Cup and knocked them out of contention in 2014 and 2015.
Pahang have been going great guns under coach Dollah Sallah in the M-League this season after narrowly missing relegation to the second-tier Premier League last year.
However, the Elephants have set a hot pace in the Super League this season and are lying second in the table standings. The East Coast giants downed Malacca United 2-0 in the third round.
Playing JDT in the last eight is a “tough call” but Dollah and his team are much wiser after they lost to the Southern Tigers 3-2 in a league match at the Larkin Stadium in Johor Bahru earlier this month.
“This is the FA Cup and the quarter-final tie will be played over two-legs. We host the first leg and it gives both teams an equal chance. We need to be tight at the back and not concede at home,” said Dollah, adding that Pahang must get a good scoreline in Kuantan to put the pressure on JDT.
The former international also takes consolation from the fact that his team scored two goals in Larkin in the league match and even took the lead.
“We will be better prepared this time. Before we can think of the return-leg in Larkin we need to do our job at home in Kuantan.”
