Tenaga Must Buck up

05/08/2003

TENAGA Nasional have one hand on the Malaysia Hockey League title but they
cannot afford to play like they did against Pahang Sports Council on
Sunday if they hope to clinch it.
It was Tenaga's worst outing in the MHL to date, and even the normally
cool K. Rajan was sweating bullets despite the cool evening till the
klaxon sounded ending the match.
"I am so relieved the match is over. Even though we only scored one
goal, the three points are what we need right now," said the Tenaga coach,
wiping the sweat off his brows.
Tenaga know that goals will not help them to re-claim the League title,
as they are 14 goals behind leaders Sapura, but Tenaga have a match in
hand and look the better bet.
"All we need to do is to win both matches this weekend, and the title
will be ours. The goal tally will not matter then," said Rajan.
Tenaga have easy opponents in Ipoh City Hall on Saturday, but will have
a fight on their hands when they host Maybank at the Kuala Lumpur HA
Stadium on Monday.
Maybank are the other team with a clear shot at the title. They have an
easy match against Navy Dolphins on Friday, and then square-off against
Tenaga in what may be the title decider.
"The match against Pahang was our worst in the MHL maybe because the
players were tired after giving their all a day earlier in the hard-fought
(3-2) win over Bank Simpanan Nasional.
"Also my strikers Tajol (Rosli) and Azlan (Misron), who have just return
from the Champions Challenge in South Africa, have yet to re-adjust their
biological clocks and were lost in the Pahang match," said Rajan.
The MHL will go down to the wire this weekend, as leaders Sapura will
take on Ernst & Young on Saturday and one team will drop points and slide
down the table.
Every indication points to either Tenaga or Maybank lifting the title.
In the fight for the last eight, it looks like six teams are already
confirmed while Royal Malay Regiment made a late surge by beating Ipoh
City Hall 5-0 on Sunday.
The last ticket into the quarter-final will be fought out between Ipoh
and the bottom four.
(END)