bankers trash Dolphins

09/08/2003

MAYBANK had to endure 35 minutes of torture before they steamrolled Navy
Dolphins 7-1 at the Tun Razak Stadium to keep a top-two finish in the
Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) in sight.
Maybank, although still occupying the fourth spot on the standings, now
will have to pray for the Sapura-Ernst & Young match to end up in a draw
today and then beat Tenaga Nasional to finish second in the MHL.
Maybank's Sufian Mohamed scored in the ninth minute, but a torrential
downpour stopped the match for 45 minutes after that and upon resumption,
bottom-of-the-table Navy shocked the title aspirants with a 24th minute
equaliser from M. Sivalingam.
And for the remainder of the half, Navy defended bravely and Maybank
went into the dressing room looking a little shaky. But in the second
half, they started with a bang and piled up the goals.
Suffian (37th, 60th), Ismail Abu (42nd) and a hat-trick from Riduan
Nasir (47th, 63rd, 70th) completed the rout.
At the Johor Baru Stadium, Royal Malay Regiment went on a rampage and
slammed in 10 goals past Johor Baru Municipal Council and
With the win, RMR made sure they will be playing in the quarter-finals.
The RMR goals were scored by Ramli Ismail (seventh, 62nd), Zulhairi
Ariffin (22nd, 17th, 23rd, 60th), Arif Ali (31st, 36th), Sulaiman Bujang
(36th, 69th). The Johor consolation was scord by Manveer Singh in the 15th
minute.
At the Bertam Stadium in Penang, Pahang Sports Council beat Srii Aroma
1-0 in front of a few hundred home supporters in a monotonous match.
Both teams played an attacking game, but the goals never came except for
the one in the 32nd minute by Pahang's Mohamed Razi Ismail.
Srii Aroma was a big let down for the home crowd who came to watch them
win the last home match at the stadium but went home disappointed.
At the Azlan Shah Stadium in Ipoh, Customs handed Ipoh City Hall a 3-0
thrashing yesterday.
For Ipoh City Hall, the defeat has virtually put them out of the running
for a quarter-final berth as they wind up their fixtures against high
riding Tenaga Nasional today at the same venue.
Customs, lying fifth on the standings and already qualified for the
quarter-final took the Ipoh team lightly by playing a cool game.
And their break came in the 14th minute when M. Jayamaran broke through
a shaky defense and made a cross from the right for Ranjit Singh to push
the ball home.
Ipoh City Hall tried hard to even the score but some of the individual
attempts by juniors Fazreen Ekhsan Kulub and R.Premkumar did not shake the
confidence of the Customs back line.
Customs, needing another goal to keep their hopes alive, found it in the
42nd minute when former international Lam Mun Fatt sneaked through the
Ipoh defence to beat Kezuan Ghazali from close range.
Ipoh City Hall kept up the pressure but their finishing was a big
letdown and in the 60th minute Anuar Musadat had one good chance but with
only P.Ganesan to beat he sent his shot wide.
Customs wrapped up the match with a 65th minute goal through Mohamed
Farid who went solo and beat Kezuan.
Results - Maybank 7 Navy 1, RMR 10 JBMC 1, Pahang SC 1 Srii Aroma 0,
Customs 3 Ipoh City Hall 0.
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