BANDAR Penawar Sports School-Thunderbolt snatched the MHF-Milo-NSC Division One title from the grips of newcomers UniKL when they scored
the equaliser with 30 seconds remaining in the match.
The title-battle ended 1-1, but Thunderbolt had 22 points from eight
matches, while UniKL had only 20 to show.
It was the first Division One League title for Bandar Penawar, who made
their debut in 2004.
"I can't ask for more from my players, as we controlled the match but
just failed to score. It was a great show from my boys, who trained for
only one month, against a sports school outfit," said UniKL coach I.
Vickneswaran.
Thunderbolt coach Wan Roslan Rahman said: "We only came to live in
the last five minutes, and it was a lucky goal scored 30 seconds from time.
However, a win is a win, and now we look foward to the knock-out stage."
The first half was a drab affair, as most of the play was centred around
midfield and players from both sides could not even trap the ball properly.
UniKL had a handful of chances, but poor shooting saw them entering
the dressing room without scoring.
BPSS-Thunderbolt won the only penalty corner of the half in the 32nd
minute, and all eyes were on national player Faizal Saari. However, the
chance was wasted as the stopper failed to trap the ball.
Faizal got his chance in the 40th minute, when Thunderbolt won their
second panalty corner, but his powerful drag-flick hit the post and went
crashing out.
UniKL upped the tempo and received their first penalty corner in the
45th minute, but the flick by Sabri Mohamed sailed over the bar.
There were plenty or near misses after that, but no goals to show as the
clocked showed eight more minutes ramaining for Thunderbolt to be
declared as the new champions.
However, the game suddenly came to live in the last five minutes of the
match, as UniKL went looking for the elusive goal.
And in the 67th minute, Hizzat Sumantri connected home a cross and
suddenly, the title looked like it belonged to the newcomers.
But tragedy struck, with 30 seconds to regulation time, when
Thunderbolt went on the attack and a cross from Nazrin Yahya was
connected home by Fariq Saadon and the southern sports school players
finally hit paydirt.
RESULTS: Division One -- Bukit Jalil Sports School 5 MWHA 1, UniKL 1
Thunderbolt 1; Division Two: Ipoh City Council 2 Pahang 3, Datuk Taha 4
Penang Frees 4.
SUNDAY: Division Two: Sabah v Penang Frees (Pandamaran, 5pm).
DIVISION ONE
P W D L F A Pts
THUNDERBOLT 8 7 1 0 37 6 22
UNIKL 8 6 2 0 33 8 20
BJSS 8 5 2 1 24 7 17
PJCC 8 4 1 3 20 15 13
BPSS JUNIORS 8 3 1 4 12 16 10
ANDERSON 8 3 1 4 14 28 10
KELANTAN 8 1 3 4 11 34 6
BJSS JUNIORS 8 1 1 6 5 25 4
MWHA 8 0 0 8 8 25 0
DIVISION TWO
P W D L F A Pts
SABAH 7 6 0 1 32 7 18
PAHANG 8 7 0 1 33 14 21
IPOH CC 8 5 2 1 24 8 17
TBSS 8 4 2 2 23 11 14
MATRI 8 3 1 4 14 14 10
FREES 7 2 3 2 19 18 9
DATUK TAHA 8 1 2 5 13 30 5
SELANGOR 8 1 0 7 6 45 3
JOHOR 8 0 2 6 12 29 2
