Thursday, October 20, 2011

Joel, Manraj to the fore

SAPURA will be going for broke to turn the tables on Tenaga Nasional in the second leg of the TNB-Cup semi-finals at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil tonight.
After losing 3-5 to Tenaga in the first leg, coach I. Vickneswaran feels the youth in his side are capable of much more.
The other semi-finals is between Maybank and Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club, with the latter having secured an emphatic 6-1 cushion.
“My young players were the ones who took us out of troubled waters in the first leg after we messed up by going down 4-0 by the 15th minute.
“Young guns Joel (van Huizen) and Manraj (Singh) played the best game of their lives to take ou out of troubled waters,” said Vickneswaran.
Also, Sapura will receive another boost as their skipper S. Kuhan will be back after serving a two-match suspension for a red card offense.
“Kuhan’s presence will add experience to the side, which we will sorely need, and I expect him to guide the youngsters in our side to pull off an upset and take us into the final,” said Vickneswaran.
Sapura can take a bow for scoring three goals against the best defense in the League, and it would not come as a surprise if they beat Tenaga again today, like they did in the last TNB Cup semi-finals and advanced to the final on a 4-2 aggregate.
TODAY -- S-Finals (Second leg): Sapura (3) v TNB (5) (6pm), Maybank (1) v KLHC (6) (8pm).
Note: First leg scores in parenthesis and matches at the National Hockey Stadium (Pitch Two) in Bukit Jalil.