Woeful Tenaga power on

28/04/2003

TENAGA Nasional played one of their worst matches in the second leg of the
quarter-finals but still managed to beat Malacca Municipal Council to seal
a semi-final berth of the MHF-Milo-Admiral-NSC Junior Hockey League
yesterday.
Tenaga went in with a comfortable 3-0 cushion and even took a 2-0 lead
before the players crumbled and alowed Malacca MC to equalise.
Tenaga will now meet Telekom Pahang in a mouth-watering semi-final.
At the Kuala Terengganu Stadium, Telekom Pahang beat Terengganu Schools
Sports Council 1-0 to advance 7-4 aggregate.
"We have played 11 matches so far in the JHL, and this was our worst
performance. We scored two early goals, but rain interrupted the match for
25 minutes and after the restart, the boys just forgot how to play
hockey," said Tenaga coach K. Rajan.
Rajan has made it clear that his players are out to prove a point by
reaching the final, and hopefully meet Malaysia Sports School to decide
who the real champions are.
Tenaga were pipped to the Division One title by Malaysia SS on a one
goal difference, and the electrical company are still smarting from the
blow.
"We still have the upper hand against Telekom Pahang because we will be
playing at home first. We will go for a comfortable cushion, like we did
against Malacca, and then go for a win at the Kuantan Stadium," said
Rajan.
The Tenaga goals were scored by Fairuz Hamsani (sixth) and Eszreen Abdul
Azis (36th). Malacca came back into the game with goals from Nor Ikram
Sulaiman (39th) and Nor Hamezi Omar (44th) but it was too late to salvage
matters.
At the Kuala Terengganu Stadium, Telekom only needed to sit back and
enjoy the match because they had a 6-4 cushion. The Telekom goal yesterday
was scored by Redza Maadun in the 11th minute.
But Telekom, who only registered 16 players for the JHL, were dealt a
severe blow as Zulkifli Abdullah will sit out the first leg of the semi-
final for picking up demerit points.
S-final fixtures - 1st leg (Friday): Tenaga Nasional v Telekom Pahang
(KLHA Stadium, 5.15), Malaysia Sports School v Anderson XYbase (Tun Razak
Stadium, 5.15)
Sunday - return leg: Telekom Pahang v Tenaga Nasional (Kuantan Stadium,
5.15), Anderson XYbase v Malaysia Sports School (Azlan Shah Stadium,
5.15). Q-FINALS - 2ND LEG
Malacca Municipal Council ........2
Tenaga Nasional ..................2
(Tenaga win 5-2 on agg) Terengganu SSC ..................0
Telekom Pahang ..................1
(Telekom Pahang win 7-4 on agg) Anderson Xybase ..................0
Petaling Jaya MC ................0
(Anderson win 3-1 on agg) Sports School Juniors ............1
Malaysia Sports School ..........1
(Malaysia SS win 5-2 on agg)
(END)