Fighting Sapura score first win

01/04/2002

SAPURA ........4 FORCES ..........1
ANDERSON SC ...8 BCB .............2
MAYBANK .......2 JOLLY LADS SC... 0
TNB........... 6 NAVY ............0
SAPURA fought tooth-and-nail with a rejuvenated Armed Forces side before
walking away with their first three points in the Malaysia Hockey League
(MHL) at the Tun Razak Stadium last night.
Sapura, who lost 5-1 to Tenaga Nasional on Saturday, had to bring out
their best to stop the speedy and well-built Army men who gave them a
tough fight in midfield.
The only reason the scoreline was so high is because the Armed Forces
defenders gave away too many penalty corners and with Sapura's S. Kuhan,
Jiwa Mohan and Chua Boon Huat all well-trained in that department, the
goals came in easy.
Sapura were pinned down in their own semicircle for a good five minutes
after the start of the match but one lucky break in the sixth handed them
a penalty corner and Kuhan's powerful flick sailed into goal.
In the 33rd minute Ramli Ismail equalised for Armed Forces and Sapura
were back in trouble.
Until halftime Armed Forces gave Sapura a tough fight and only good
golkeeping by Nasihin Nubli denied them.
After the restart, Armed Forces gave away too many penalty corners and
Chua Boon Huat, who will head for Germany on Tuesday to play in the German
League, scored his first MHL goal in the 40th minute.
In the 54th minute Jiwa Mohan scooped in another penalty corner before
Nishel Kumar wrapped up the match with a field goal. The match was robust
from the start with players from both sides getting hard knocks and after
the match, there was a slight commotion as the Army players blamed the
umpires for poor handling of the match.
Some of the Army men accused the umpires of being bias as Sapura is made
up of mostly national players. In an earlier match, Maybank scraped past
Jolly Lads Sports Club 2-0 with goals from K. Gobinathan (23rd) and
Chairil Anwar (60th).
At the Kuala Lumpur Hockey Stadium, Anderson Sports Club hammered
Bumiputra-Commerce Bank 8-2 with some hat-trick help from Mirnawan Nawawi
in the fifth, eighth and 25th minutes.
The other Anderson goals were scored by Len Ayappa (2nd, 64th),
Bhuvanseprabhu (10th, 40th) and Kamal Affendy (58th).
In the last match of the day, Tenaga Nasional beat Navy 6-0. The goals
were scored by Mahinder Singh (24th), Nor Saiful Zaini (38th, 44th, 46th),
M. Kaliswaran (60th) and Mohamed Fairus Ramli (61st).
jugjet@nstp.com.my
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