Terengganu can upset Telekom

27/04/2003

TERENGGANU Schools Sports Council are unbeaten at home, and this spells
trouble for Telekom Pahang in the second leg quarter-finals of the MHF-
Milo-Admiral-NSC Junior Hockey League today.
In the first leg at the Kuantan Stadium on Friday, Terengganu SSC held
on to hope when they scored four goals against Pahang's six. Today, with
backing from their die-hard fans, Terengganu SSC might cause the biggest
upset in the JHL.
In the League, Terengganu SSC beat Pahang 2-1 at home and this could
boost their confidence - but they need to keep a cool head.
The first leg was marred by a pitch invasion incident caused by a near
free-for-all which stopped the match for eight minutes and today's match
is expected to be as robust.
Terengganu SSC hat-trick hero Saiful Amri Mohamed had to be pulled out
by team manager Mohamed Saberi on Friday and he has to keep his head if he
wants to take his team to the semi-finals.
After the first leg, it looks like three of the semi-final tickets have
already been booked. Tenaga Nasional, Anderson-XYbase and Malaysia Sports
School all have comfortable cushions and will be hard to upset.
Tenaga coach K. Rajan has made it clear that there is no way they will
allow Malacca Municipal Council to win by a 4-0 margin.
"Malacca have no choice but to come out attacking for four goals, and
that is when we plan to hit them for more goals and secure the semi-
finals," said Rajan.
Malacca were riding high in Division Two against weaker teams, and
looked shell-shocked playing Tenaga.
Anderson XYbase lost influential striker Fazreen Eksan Kulub to a yellow
card in the first leg, but coach Mokhtar Baharuddin is not worried.
Fazreen scored twice against Petaling Jaya Municipal Council on Friday
to bring his tally to eight and is now the second highest scorer.
"The boys played very well on Friday and got all three goals in the
first 15 minutes. Now we have a good advantage as we will be playing at
home and even without Fazreen, we have back-up players to get the goals,"
said Mokhtar.
Fixtures: Q-finals, 2nd leg - today: Sports School Juniors (1) v
Malaysia Sports School (4) (Tun Razak Stadium, 5.15), Malacca Municipal
Council (0) v Tenaga Nasional Bhd (3) (Bukit Serindit Stadium, 5.15),
Terengganu Schools Sports Council (4) v Telekom Pahang (6) (Kuala
Terengganu Stadium, 5.15), Anderson Xybase (3) v Petaling Jaya Municipal
Council (1) (Azlan Shah Stadium, 5.15).
Note: First leg scores in parenthesis.
(END)