Sapura now only want three points

12/05/2002

SAPURA only wanted four points from the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) this
weekend and they managed to come from behind in the last 10 minutes of the
match to hold a gritty Maybank side at the KL Hockey Stadium yesterday.
Maybank were easily the better side yesterday and when Riduan Nasir
sounded the board in the sixth minute, they grew in confidence and only
allowed Sapura the luxury of one penalty corner in the first half.
Maybank knew that they could not afford to give away too many penalty
corners because Sapura's S. Kuhan is a proven hand.
Maybank held on to the lead and the Sapura players, in their desperation
to score, started making some silly mistakes.
And in the 56th minute, Maybank increased the lead when Chairil Anwar
found himself all alone at the top of the semicircle. He went in
confidently and beat a defender before taking a backstick shot which
caught Sapura goalkeeper Nasihin Nubli off guard.
Sapura knew they were in trouble and pushed for penalty corners and were
rewarded with three in 58th, 59th and 60th minutes. Kuhan blew the first
two with high flicks but scored the third to inject some life into their
game.
That goal spurred Sapura and with two minutes to go, Kuhan sent a pass
to Jiwa Mohan who beat the onrushing maybank goalkeeper Khairil Anwar and
made a pass to Nishel Kumar who tucked in the equaliser.
To add drama to the match, Maybank won a penalty corner a few seconds
before the final horn blew but Sapura players disputed umpire Faithal
Hassan's decision.
Faithal stood his ground and when the situation became unruly with K.
Keevan Raj throwing his stick to the turf and challenging him, he took out
his yelow card and sent Keevan to the sin bin.
But in the end, K. Gobinathan of Maybank wasted the last chance to win
the match when his set-piece was stopped by Nasihin.
"Before the match started our plans were to collect four points this
weekend and we have reached our first target. Tomorrow (today) against
Bank Simpanan Nasional, we have to go for a win so that we will remain
within the top four to make the semifinals comfortably," said Sapura
manager Kenneth G. Pereira.
Today: Sapura v Bank Simpanan Nasional (National Hockey Stadium,
5.30pm), RAMD v Andersen Sports Club (Tun Razak Stadium, 5.30pm), Maybank
v Tenaga Nasional (KL Hockey Stadium, 6pm), Bumiputra-Commerce Bank v Navy
(KL Hockey Stadium, 8pm).
MAYBANK ..... 2 SAPURA ...... 2
JOLLY LADS... 3 NAVY .........1
(END)