The Kuala Lumpur team celebrate after defending their title yesterday. — Picture by Asman IbrahimDEFENDING champions Kuala Lumpur subdued an aggressive Perak 2-1 to retain the MHF-NSC-Milo-MSSM Boys' National Under-14 hockey title at the Universiti Sains Malaysia Hockey Stadium yesterday.
Both sides enjoyed their share of early play without any result until in a goalmouth melee when Perak's Mohd Alif Faizal's took advantage of the situation to score past a fumbling Kuala Lumpur goalkeeper Muhd Shafie Sharom.
After the breather, KL upped the tempo and harassed the Perak defence and it paid off when Nor Syafiq Sumantri beat Perak's replacement goalkeeper Mohd Amirul Abd Halim to equalise.
Stung by the goal, Perak went on the hunt for another goal but to no avail, and even missed two sitters.
KL, after soaking up all that their opponents could throw at them, produced some thrilling play resulting in Jagveen Singh getting the winning goal two minutes from time.
KL coach Saiful Munir Mansor was thrilled with his charges' performance and said they played according to instructions.
“When we were down by a goal, I was not so worried as it has become a norm that my boys play better under pressure and always come back from behind to win," said Saiful.
"It happened twice in this tournament, in the group match we came from behind to beat Malacca and in the semi-finals we also came from a goal down to beat Selangor in the extra time."
Earlier, Selangor took third spot when they slammed Terengganu 7-0.
RESULTS - Final: Kuala Lumpur 2 Perak 1; 3rd-4th: Selangor 7 Terengganu 0.
Roll of honour - Man of the Match: Jagveen Singh (Kuala Lumpur); Top scorer: Mohd Haikal Zamri -- 13 goals (Selangor); Best goalkeeper: Mohd Amirul Abd Halim (Perak); Player of the Tournament: Nazrulmubin Zebidi (Selangor); Fair play: Perak.
