YNS edge Nur Insafi 2-1

YAYASAN Negri Sembilan (YNS) had to forfeit their nine lives before beating Nur Insafi 2-1 off their ninth penalty corner in the Premier Division of the TNB-Malaysia Hockey League yesterday.
YNS started off with a stroke of luck in the ninth minute when Nur Insafi Pakistan import Kashif Ali missed a penalty stroke, but lady luck deserted them in the 24th minute.
Local player Harris Fadila scored off a field attempt, and that was the most exciting action of the first half.
Nur Insafi and YNS have each registered six foreign players, but there seem to be a lack of understanding in their first League match.
For the record, YNS beat Nur Insafi 4-2 and 6-1 in the return leg last season.
The second half was a midfield affair, but YNS started attacking after 15 minutes into the match and won a string of penalty corners, but only got it right in their eighth attempt.
Pakistan import Ihsan Ullah Khan's 59th minute attempt pulled his team on level terms, and YNS started to attack more often as they went looking for the winner.
And they got it in the 69th minute, off their ninth penalty corner when Ullah struck again for full points.
Meanwhile, Sapura chalked up an unimpressive 4-0 win over a weak Armed Forces Airod.
Sapura fielded four national players but only Azreen Rizal delivered with a hat-trick (eigtht, 29th, 66th) and Sapura were let off the hook.
The other goal was scored by Joel Samuel van Huizen in the 69th minute.
The rest of their national players, and former players like S. Kuhan, Jiwa Mohan, Redzuan Ponirin, Robert Alcantra and Faizal Daud, were of little help to the team's cause.
"While I am happy with the win and the four goals, we were playing in patches and that is an area we need to work on. In reality this was the first time they played together as a team as many of my players had work commitment," said Sapura coach I.Vikneswaran.
In another Premier Division match, unfancied UiTM scared the daylights out of UniKL when their Oatar import Sherza Ali scored in the 12th minute, but Noor Faeez scored off their fifth penalty corner in the 59th minute to hand UniKL one important point.
UiTM yesterday fielded all their five Qatar imports Muhammad Rizwan, Sheraz Ali, Tariq Nazir, Sami Ullah and Sohail Mustafa.
RESULTS: Division One -- SSTMI-Thunderbolt 4 Uniten 2, Ipoh City Hall 0 BJSS 6.
Premier League: Armed Forces Airod 0 Sapura 4, Uitm 1 UniKL 1, Nur Insafi Penang 1 Yayasan Negri Sembilan 2.
WEDNESDAY: Premier Division -- Sapura v Maybank (6pm, Pitch I), UniKL v Yayasan NS (8pm, Pitch I), Kuala Lumpur HC v UiTM (6pm, Pitch II), Tenaga v Nur Insafi (8pm, Pitch II).
All matches at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
DIVISION ONE: SSTMI-Thunderbolt v UNIMAP (Ministry of Education, 5pm), BJSS v Uniten (Ministry of Education, 8pm).

STANDINGS

PREMIER DIVISION

P W D L F A Pts
SAPURA 1 1 0 0 4 0 3
KLHC 1 1 0 0 2 1 3
YAYASAN NS 1 1 0 0 2 1 3
UITM 1 0 1 0 1 1 1
UNIKL 1 0 1 0 1 1 1
TENAGA 1 0 0 1 1 2 0
NUR INSAFI 1 0 0 1 1 2 0
ATM AIROD 1 0 0 1 0 4 0
MAYBANK 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

DIVISION ONE

P W D L F A Pts
BJSS 2 1 1 0 7 1 4
THUNDERBOLT 1 1 0 0 4 2 3
UNIMAP 1 0 1 0 1 1 1
UNITEN 2 0 1 1 4 6 1
IPOH CH 2 0 1 1 2 8 1