Kuala Lumpur (22 January, 2017): Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) exerted their dominance over Premier Division debutants, UITM-KPT as they came out 4-0 victors in their TNBMHL 2017 match at the Kuala Lumpur Hockey Stadium.
TNB dominated their match against the visitors, however, they were wasteful in front of goal especially in the first half when they saw both their penalty corners saved by UITM’s goalkeeper, Mohamad Adi Fazri Ab Rahim.
UITM-KPT held out to a goalless first half and when the second half resumed, Mohamad Adi Fazri was again the hero as he produced two fine saves to deny TNB the lead through two more penalty corners.
However, he and his defense were unable to prevent TNB from breaking the deadlock when Muhd Ramadan Rosli finally converted TNB’s fifth penalty corner in the 34th minute.
Another penalty corner three minutes later saw Muhd Firdaus Omar adding a second for the hosts just before Muhd Ramadan scored his second of the night through a field goal in the 41st minute.
TNB piled more misery on UITM-KPT when Nik Muhammad Aiman Nik Rozemi got on the scoresheet after scoring through a field goal in the 58th minute.
Coach Muhamad Amin Rahim was satisfied with the three important points bagged in their win today, however, he believed his team could have performed better against a young and inexperienced UITM-KPT side.
“We will try to improve our performance especially in our next match against top-of-the-table KLHC. We will also welcome a possible return of Syed Mohamad Syafiq Syed Cholan and Muhammad Hafiizhuddin Zaidi from injury as we are currently waiting for medical clearance before fielding them in the next match,” said the former national player.
He added, that TNB will put up a good fight when coming up against tougher opponents such as, Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) and Terengganu Hockey Team (THT).
TNB now occupy third place with 12 points from five matches this season.
The earlier match at the Kuala Lumpur Hockey Stadium saw UniKL’s winning streak come to an end when they were defeated 2-0 by KLHC.
UniKL had a bright start to the match with a series of chances going wide of the opposition’s goal including fluffing a penalty corner which was hit directly at a KLHC defender.
In the second quarter, Lachlan Gerald Stock almost put UniKL in front only to witness his well-taken shot coming of the foot of the post.
KLHC, on the other hand, saw their 1st penalty corner of the match saved by UniKL’s Argentina international goalkeeper, Tomas Matias Santiago as both teams head into the break after a goalless first half.
However, just 4 minutes into the second half, Muhammad Noor Faeez Ibrahim broke the deadlock when he converted a penalty corner to give KLHC a 1-0 lead.
It did not take long for the hosts to add a second in the 43rd minute through national player, Muhammad Haziq Samsul’s brilliant solo run.
UniKL came close to reducing the deficit to a single goal just before the match ended when Pakistan international, Muhammad Aleem Bilal’s shot from a penalty corner flew wide of the goal.
Today’s win for KLHC sees them leapfrog UniKL into second place who drop to fourth in the league standings.
THT climb to top spot after defeating Maybank 3-0 at the MBMB Hockey Stadium. The in-form Jang Jonghyun opened the scoring as early in the 6th minute when he converted a penalty corner before Faizal Saari gave his team a 2-0 lead just before the end of first-half through a well taken field goal.
Muhd Firhan Ashaari put the match beyond reach when he added the third of the night through another field goal in the 42nd minute.
Meanwhile at the SSTMI Hockey Stadium, TNB-Thunderbolts registered their first win of the season when they cruised to a 3-0 victory over Tunku Ismail Sports School (SSTMI).
It took only five minutes for TNB-Thunderbolts to decide the outcome of the match when Muhd. Arai Aizad Abu Kamal scored a brace in the 1st and the 5th minute on either side of Mohd. Akhimullah Anuar Esook’s field goal in the second minute.
TNBMHL 2017 PREMIER LEAGUE (22 January 2017):
KLHC 2 – 0 UniKL
Maybank 0 – 3 KLHC
TNB-Thunderbolts 3 – 0 SSTMI
Tenaga Nasional Berhad 4 – 0 UITM – KPT
