Champs Tenaga keep title on sight

04/08/2003

TENAGA Nasional Bhd kept their sights on the Malaysia Hockey League title
when they beat Pahang Sports Council 1-0 at the Tun Razak Stadium
yesterday.
The defending League champions did not have it easy against Pahang, and
now they will have to dig deep against their last two opponents Ipoh City
Hall and Maybank next weekend to claim the League title.
Tenaga had a miserable outing in the first half, but they kept up the
pressure and finally found the winning touch in the second half.
In the first, Pahang had the better chance of sealing the match as they
had four shots at goal, but could not make it count.
Tenaga came to live in the last minute of the second half, when they
received their first penalty corner, but Nor Saiful Zaini's powerful hit
failed to break the deadlock.
But in the second half, Tenaga played better hockey and nailed the first
goal in the 37th minute when Azlan Misron met a cross from M. Kaliswaran.
Tenaga coach K. Rajan admitted it was the worst outing they had in the
MHL: "Eventhough this was our worst MHL match, I am still happy with the
three points because we are still in the hunt to defend our League title."
Meanwhile, in the earlier match, Royal Malay Regiment kept their hopes
alive of reaching the quarter-final when they whitewashed Ipoh City Hall
5-0.
Hong Kong import Arif Ali started the rout with a penalty stroke in the
14th minute and a jaded Ipoh side just caved in after that even though
there was not much pressure from the Army men.
The other RAMD goals were scored by Zulhairi Ariffin (26th), Sulaiman
Bujang (42nd), Azahari Yusof (56th) and Ramli Ismail (67th).
At the Azlan Shah Stadium in Ipoh, Royal Malaysian Customs hammered the
daylights out of Navy Dolphins when they went on an 11-1 rampage.
With the win, customs are virtually assured of a berth in the quarter-
finals. The Customs rout was started by Faried Abdulah in a first minute
field goal while the other goals scorers were Ikmal Jabar (sixth), Lam Mun
Fatt (eighth, 22nd), Ranjit Singh (20th, 23rd), Melvinder Singh (35th), St
John Davis (41st, 51st, 62nd). Faried ended the goal count with a 66th
minute field goal.
At the Bertam Hockey Stadium in Kepala Batas, Ernst & Young thrashed
middle of the table Srii Aroma 8-1, reports K. KANDIAH.
Ernst & Young's short corner specialist and top scorer Len Aiyappa
sounded the board in the third minute with a well taken short corner hit
and put in another three minutes later.
After fumbling three more short corner hits Aiyappa added another in the
22nd and rounded up his tally with the fourth goal in the 65th minute.
Their other goals, which were all field goals, came from S. Suriagandhi
(26th), Chua Boon Huat (28th), Mirnawan Nawawi (38th) and Kamal Affendy
Mohamad (39th).
In the 54th minute of the match Srii Aroma's D. Baskaran dribbled past
three opponents to squeeze into the semicircle to score the consolation.
Results: Royal Malaysian Customs 11 Navy Dolphins 1, Royal Malay
Regiment 5 Ipoh City Hall 0, Ernst & Young 8 Srii Aroma 1, Tenaga Nasional
1 Pahang Sports Council 0.
(END)