Bukit Jalil edge Police

13/10/2002

BUKIT JALIL .... 1 POLICE .... 0
TENAGA ......... 2 UPM ....... 0
BUKIT Jalil Sports School lifted the Raja Noora Ashikin Cup when they beat
an experienced Police side by a solitary goal at the Tun Razak Stadium in
Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
In the pool match, Bukit Jalil lost 1-0 to Police, but yesterday, the
schoolgirls played an attacking game and nailed Police in the 14th minute
when Norhamadah Abdul Rashid deflected in after a botched penalty corner
set-piece.
Police coach M. Ravindran had only one word to describe his team's
defeat to second stringers from the Sports School: "Overconfidence."
Bukit Jalil were forced to field their second team for the Second
Edition of the Raja Noora Ashikin Cup because their first team players had
to prepare for their Form Three and Form Five exams which begin on Monday.
Fielding Form Two and Form Four players, Bukit Jalil got off to a good
start in the pool match when they beat Selangor 4-0. Atter that, they
never looked back and stunned their more experienced opponents, including
last year's champions Tenaga Nasional by holding them 2-2.
Tenaga Nasional, who hired a foreign hand in Singapore's Melanie
Martens, finished with the bronze when they beat Universiti Putra Malaysia
(UPM) 2-0 with goals from tournament top-scorer D. Devaleela in the 33rd
minute for her 11th strike and Christina Chin in the 57th minute.
Six teams competed in the Cup and Police won all five pool matches and
went into yesterday's match looking too confident. They paid the price for
toying around.
But after Norhamadah scored in the 14th minute, Police became desperate
and took control of the match for a brief period, but Bukit Jalil never
faltered.
Bukit Jalil won 13 penalty corners yesterday but fumbled all because
their set-pieces were too complicated.
In the 68th minute, Norhamadah found herself free at the top of the
semi-circle and unleashed a powerful shot which missed the bar by
centimetres, but it didn't matter. The final horn sounded two minutes
later and, being the schoolgirls they are, jumped for joy and danced in
the dark as the Tun Razak Stadium experienced a power blackout for five
minutes.
Pool results: Universiti Putra Malaysia 4 Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
0; Police 3 Tenaga Nasional Bhd 1; Bukit Jalil Sports School 4 Selangor 0;
Police 4 Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 1; Tenaga Nasional Bhd 2 Bukit
Jalil Sports School 2; Universiti Putra Malaysia 1 Selangor 0; Tenaga
Nasional Bhd 7 Selangor 0; Police 2 Universiti Putra Malaysia 0; Police 1
Bukit Jalil Sports School 0; Universiti Putra Malaysia 2 Tenaga Nasional
Bhd 2; Police 7 Selangor 1; Tenaga Nasional Bhd 5 Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia 0; Bukit Jalil Sports School 1 Universiti Putra Malaysia 0; Bukit
Jalil Sports School 2 Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 0.
(END)