THE WAY Malacca are performing this season, at least until now, is enough to send shock waves all over.
I have always had a healthy respect for Malacca. Now it's no longer a case of respect. It's fear.
For a team to beat Kelantan convincingly - and in Kota Bharu at that - and having collected maximum points from four matches, you have to sit up and take notice.
What is their secret?
I think the answer lies in the team. They have practically the same players who have been kept together for the past three seasons.
The only difference this time is that they have been completely rejuvenated with a "never-say-die" attitude.
They seemed to be more determined. And they seemed to mean business this time.
I am sure they have put in a lot of hard work during their pre-season training.
Thus, when Malacca beat Brunei and Sabah in their opening matches away from home, I told myself: "Not bad."
Then when they went on to beat Sarawak and Kelantan, I cannot help but envy their achievements and at the same time feel a bit worried.
They are coming on strong and they could pose a serious threat to our Cup ambitions.
Still, it is a long way to go before we can really say whether it was a false alarm.
But one thing I know. The facts and figures tell me that Johore, if they don't watch it, will be left on the wayside.
Going four matches without a win makes sad reading. Especially when so much money has been invested into preparations. And they are a toprate team too.
Last year, Johore took the Malaysia Cup scene by storm, only to lose out to Singapore narrowly in the semifinals.
What's happening to Muhidin Hussein? Last season, he was the top scorer. This season he has been buried in anonymity.
The magic and the scoring touch seemed to have deserted him.
According to S. Sujendran, Muhidin's teamate, who spoke to me sometime back, Muhidin is finding it hard to adjust himself to the new forward line.
I hope that isn't true because Muhidin has the skill and if it is retarded, it could spell the end of his international career too.
It seems that Ibrahim Haji Din, the Armed Forces striker who made quite a name for himself last season with his scoring exploits, is also suffering from a goal drought.
Neither of them have yet to score a goal in the season so far and both are supposed to be the country's top target man. Let's hope they break the "jinx" soon.
As far as Selangor are concerned, we are still trying to pick up the pieces after dropping three points in two consecutive matches.
We received a rude bump two weeks ago when Negri Sembilan handed us our first defeat.
Deep inside us, we knew we were capable of beating Negri and until today, I just couldn't believe that we lost.
We tried very hard. But we just couldn't get into our stride to open up the game. The small bumpy pitch did not help much either.
Negri were buzzing around like busy bees. They scored two quick goeals and that really knocked the wind out of us.
Still, credit must go to them. And I have to single out one man in the Negri side who I thought did the most damage to us.
He is Yahaya Pilus. He may be small in size, but his influence on the field is something else. He twisted in and out of the Selangor defence creating so much headaches for us. If only we had stopped him, then the result might have been difference.
The defeat was good for us. It taught us never to be complacent. So Johore, wake up, too.