Malacca stay on course

22/01/2003

MALACCA notched their second victory in the National Under-21 tournament
yesterday when they beat Johor 3-2 at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit
Jalil.
In the first match Malacca defeated Kelantan 3-0 and yesterday, they had
to bring out their best after being a goal down in the second minute of
play.
Johor's Mohamed Nor Affazley converted any easy penalty corner and it
looked like Malacca were in for a hiding.
But in the 10th minute, Malacca won a penalty corner off a swift
counter-attack and Ahmad Tarmizi equalised with a well placed shot.
Malacca shocked the fitter and faster Johor players by taking the lead in
the 26th minute, also off a penalty corner set-piece.
This time, R. Rama's thundering shot sailed past goalkeeper Saiful
Amrie.
Malacca held on on to the lead but in the second half, Johor came back
looking refreshed and nailed the equaliser in the 39th minute when Mohamed
Noor Wahi scored a field goal.
Johor were the better team in the last 15 minutes of play and Malacca
only had about three attempts at goal but they made it count when Nazmi
Kamaruddin tucked in a field goal in the 58th minute and Malacca defended
well until the horn.
Malacca had a very reliable goalkeeper in Azrul Hairi who was well
supported by fullbacks Rama and Jeffri Khamis.
Malacca had prefected their penalty corner set-pieces, and from two
matches four out of six goals were scored from set-pieces.
"The team is basically from the St David's School in Malacca so they
have been playing together for a long time. The only sad thing is that
they never got a chance to play in the Sabah Malaysia Games because
Malacca did not field a hockey side.
"The players are all raw and the only tournament before this was the
Champions Schools where St David's made the semi-finals," said coach
Paramjit Singh.
Malacca fullback Jeffri played for Pahang in the Sabah Malaysia Games
and he was easily the best player of the match as experience helped him
make some good judgements.
The rest of the Malacca players were good with short bursts and could
trouble Perak in their next match today.
Meanwhile, Pahang came back strongly after losing their first match 2-1
to NSW AIS of Australia by defeating Penang 5-2.
Penang took the lead in the 29th minute off a Mohamed Fauzi penalty
corner goal but Pahang got the equaliser one minute from the halftime horn
when Megat Azrafiq sounded the board.
In the second half, it was all Pahang and Ismail Abu, who has been
banned from playing in the Feb 7 Junior Hockey League because he refused
national call-up to study, got his hat-trick in the 36th, 39th and 44th
before Mohamed Suffian made it 5-1 in the 48th minute.
Fauzi got the late goal for Penang when they were awarded a penalty
stroke in the 68th minute.
RESULTS AT A GLANCE
Kuala Lumpur .................12 Kelantan .................0
Jivan Mohan (6th, 16th, 39th)
Engku Malek (21st, 46th)
S. Jivananthan (27th)
Tajol Rosli (40th)
Mohamed Fairus (44th)
Azlan Misron (48th, 58th)
Kamarudin Rahman (54th)
Redza Maadun (55th)
Malacca ......................3 Johor ....................2
Nor Hamezi Omar (10th) Nor Affazly (2nd)
R. Rama (26th) Mohamed Noor Wahi (39th)
Nazmi Kamaruddin (58th)
Perak ........................2 Singapore ...............1
Hafifi Hafiz (21st) Hazmi Ibrahim (54th)
R. Prem Kumar (51st)
Pahang .......................5 Penang ..................2
Megat Azrafiq (34th) Mohamed Fauzi (29th, 68th)
Ismail Abu (36th, 39th, 44th)
Mohamed Suffian (48th)
NSW AIS ......................5 Selangor ................0
Joel Reeves (9th, 38th)
Alex Hardman (13th)
Eli Mathesan (27th)
Dane Petit (38th)
(END)