KUALA LUMPUR (10th September, 2016): Sapura secured a hard fought 1-0 win over Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) to lead the TNBMHL Premier League at the Kuala Lumpur Hockey Stadium in Jalan Pantai on Saturday.
The win sees Sapura top the league with 18 points from eight matches, while KLHC are second on 17, THT third (16), UniKL in fourth spot (7) followed by Maybank in fifth (7) and TNB at the bottom with three points.
The match between Sapura and UniKL failed to produce a great deal of action in the first half as both sides cancelled each other out with no clear cut chances on goal.
Despite winning two penalty corners, Sapura were unable to really threaten UniKL’s goalkeeper James Ruairi Carr.
Sapura’s sole goal came in the 38th minute through Oscar William Wookey. The Australian did well to guide a penalty stroke past James.
UniKL missed a glorious chance to level the score in the second half following some fine work from Danial Asyraf Abdul Ghani on the right flank. Unfortunately, his teammate, Rafizul Ezry Mustafa was unable to make contact with the ball.
A few minutes later, Sapura came close to scoring through a swift counter attack but were denied by a remarkable save from James.
UniKL had a penalty corner late on in the match but were left empty handed as Robert Luke Madeley could not get his shot past Sapura’s tight defence.
Sapura coach Yahya Atan was happy with his team’s spirit following their crucial 1-0 victory over UniKL.
“The boys played well and showed a strong desire to win the match. Overall I’m very happy with the team’s performance and we will continue to work hard,” said Atan.
At the Bukit Serindit Stadium in Malacca, Maybank and Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) played out a six-goal thriller as the sides drew 3-3.
Maybank opened the scoring through a field goal by Muhammad Afif Akmal Salim in the 6th minute and six minutes later, TNB were right back in it thanks to a well struck penalty corner by Muhammad Azammi Adabi.
Afif doubled his goal tally by scoring a field goal in the 35th minute to give Maybank a 2-1 lead, but TNB equalised through a penalty corner by Amir Farid Ahmad Fuzi in the 48th minute.
There was more drama late on, as Syed Mohamad Syafiq Syed Cholan stepped up to give TNB the lead in the 50th minute through a penalty corner.
But the lead proved to be too slender as Hafifihafiz Hanafi rescued Maybank through a field goal in the 52nd minute to level 3-3.
In the late match at Jalan Pantai, THT edged out KLHC 2-1 in an intense match, to keep their title hopes alive.
THT went ahead through a well taken penalty corner from South Korean Jang Jonghyun in the 22nd minute. And in the 28th minute, KLHC were back on level terms following a penalty corner from Muhammad Noor Faeez Ibrahim.
THT’s winning goal came from a penalty corner in the 35th minute. KLHC goalkeeper Roslan Jamaluddin did well to block the initial shot, but he could do nothing about the rebound from Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin Tengku Abdul Jalil.
THT coach Sarjit hailed his side’s hard fought victory over KLHC but acknowledged that his team need to work on their finishing.
“We need to put away our chances as we had a lot of penalty corners in the match. And with only two matches only left to play, we will keep fighting. I’m happy with today’s result,” said Sarjit.
Results – Premier League: Sapura 1 UniKL 0; Maybank 3 TNB 3; KLHC 1 THT 2.
