Barely 24 hours earlier Sapura suffered the humiliation of a 5-0 defeat at the hands of KL Hockey Club. But they showed resilience to subdue a largely ineffective UniKL side who also lost their opening match 3-2 against Nur Insafi-Perak.
The defeat casts serious doubts on the ability of UniKL to make the grade as they played without any zest normally accustomed with their previous teams.
Sapura took the lead against the run of
play in the 4th minute through Azreen Rizal Nasir. But their midfield
failed to take grasp of things and allowed UniKL back into the game.
Though UniKL were awarded three
consecutive penalty corners, they failed to make much headway with Mohd
Noor faeez Ibrahim opting to go for direct attempts instead of side
stepping the first runner.
However he made amends in the 15th minute and UniKL grew in confidence.
Sapura were undeterred and were awarded a
penalty stroke in the 30th minute when a penalty corner attempt by
Pakistan's Muhammad Imran struck a defenders body on the goal line.
But South Korea's Lee Jung Seon made a hash of things as his stroke was easily saved by UniKL keeper Shahrul Azaddin Auskarzie.
Though Sapura forced another three
penalty corners in the closing stages of the first half, they failed to
capitalise and at half time both team were evenly match with a scoreline
of 1-1.
Mohd Marhan Jalil made it 2-1 in the
41st minute before Mohd Razali Mohd Zulkipli extended the advantage with
a reverse stick goal in the 58th minute.
