Only KLHC can spoil their own party

KUALA Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) were virtually crowned as TNB-Malaysia Hockey League Premier Division champions when their nemesis Sapura went down 2-0 to Tenaga Nasional at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil last night.
All KLHC have to do now is to beat Nur Insafi on Friday, and then they can afford to lose to Sapura in their last match on Oct 9, as right now, not taking into account the Nur Inasfi match, they hold a massive 12-goal advantage.
Tenaga took the lead in the third minute when Amir Farid made it into the semi circle unchallenged and beat Sapura goalkeeper Khairulnizam Ibrahim.
And Muhammad Fikri Bassar closed the accounts with a 69th minute goal to close the deal.
However, in an earlier match, defending champions KLHC were made to sweat for the first quarter of the match, as UniKL held on gallantly.
KLHC were awarded penalty corners in the 18th and 21st minutes, but national flicker Razie Rahim was stopped by UniKL keeper Fitri Jasmi.
But all their hadr work was undone in the 25th minute when Razie's attempt off a penalty corner hit the bar and the rebound was tucked in by Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin.
And four minutes later Chua Boon Huat extended KLHC's lead with an opportunistic goal.
But UniKL made a fightback in the 33rd minute when Yazid Yusof scored off a penalty corner rebound after the initial attempt was saved by KLHC keeper Roslan Jamaluddin.
Two minutes into the second half Razie extended the lead for KLHC as he moved into the semi circle unchallenged before unleashing a shot that went between the pads of Fitri.
Harvinder Singh made it 4-1 in the 52nd before Azli Misron (57th) and Mohamed Amerrullah (69th) mad eit count.
In another Premier Division Match, Maybank went full steam ahead to notch their second win when they hammered UiTM 5-0 to move up to fourth on seven points.
Maybank took the lead in the 17th minute when defender Engku Malek converted a penalty corner. And in the 25th minute Engku Abdul Malek doubled their advantage by scoring off another penalty corner.
Hafifihafiz Hanafi scored in the 42nd minute before goals from Hafizudin Mat Desa (53rd) and Hairul Nizam (56th) made it a comprehensive win.
"What is important is to keep keep the team structure, and we did that well today (yesterday). The five goals are an advantage. Though everything may only be decided in the final match against Sapura, we are taking it one match at a time.
"We also gave some of the fringe players a run out against UniKL, as we need to give them as much playing time as possible in preparation for the knock out stages," KLHC team manager George Koshy.
As for UniKL, manager Amir Azhar said: "Considering the talent in KHHC, We played well and matched them in the early stages but were hampered by poor defending as key players suffered injuries.
"We have one more match (against Armed Forces on Sunday), and if we win that, then we should be able to finish either fourth or fifth and avoid the big guns in the knock-out. Our focus will now be those three vital points on Sunday."

P W D L F A Pts
KL HC 6 6 0 0 35 9 18
TNB 7 5 1 1 25 6 16
Sapura 6 5 0 1 21 8 15
YNS 6 3 0 3 11 18 9
UniKL 7 1 4 2 15 20 7
Maybank 6 2 1 3 14 11 7
Nur Insafi 6 2 1 3 12 21 7
UiTM 6 0 1 5 6 26 1
Airod 6 0 0 6 8 28 0

Division One

P W D L F A Pts
T’bolt 7 3 4 0 20 16 13
Ipoh CH 7 3 3 1 14 16 12
BJSS 6 1 3 2 13 9 6
Uniten 6 1 3 2 11 13 6
UNIMAP 6 1 1 4 10 14 4

RESULTS -- Premier League: - UiTM 0 Maybank 5, KL Hockey Club 6 UniKL 1, Armed Forces Airod 1 YNS 4, Tenaga 2 Sapura 0.
Division One: UNIMAP 2 Uniten 4, Ipoh City Hall 2 SSTMI-Thunderbolt 2.
FRIDAY: Premier League: YNS v Sapura (National Stadium I, 6pm), Nur Insafi Penang v KL Hockey Club (National Stadium II, 6pm),
Maybank v TNB (National Stadium I, 8pm), UiTM v Armed Forces Airod (National Stadium II, 8pm).
Division 1 - Uniten v BJSS (Tun Razak, 5pm), UNIMAP v SSTMI-Thunderbolt (Alor Star, 5pm).