TENGKU Mahkota Ismail Sports School (SSTMI) kept their hopes of defending the Division One League title alive when they beat Petaling Jaya City Council (PJCC) 4-0 in the NSC-Milo-MHC Junior Hockey League yesterday.
The league title will now be decided on Thursday, when SSTMI play UniKL Young Guns in a winner-takes-all high stakes match as both teams are tied on 15 points.
PJCC ended their league on 18 points, but their goals-scored count is too low to challenge for the title, unless the SSTMI-UniKL match ends in a draw, and they will be crowned without breaking sweat while watching from the stands.
Playing at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil, PJCC only needed a draw to lift the League title, but SSTMI's Shahril Saabah dented their hopes early with a fourth minute penalty corner goal.
After that SSTMI took control of the match and won four more penalty corners, and scored their second in the 30th minute off a Mohamed Zulhamizan field goal to enter the dressing room with the title in sight.
Huzairy Zin then made it 3-0 in the 43rd minute, while Azwar Rahman helped himself to another in the 53rd minute.
SSTMI coach Wan Roslan Wan Rahman knows the score on Thursday: "The defeat to Anderson (2-1) on Friday turned out to be a blessing as it was a wake-up call for my players to play better against PJCC. Now, we can't afford to make too many mistakes in the match against UniKL as its a winner-take-all."
PJCC team manager Zanal Abidin was disappointed with the defeat, but is keeping is fingers crossed for UniKL and SSTMI to end with a draw.
"We will be at the stands on Thursday when UniKL and SSTMI play, and hopefully its a draw so we can celebrate our maiden JHL League title," said Zanal.
Two red cards were yesterday flashed to PJCC player Khairol Shafik and Politeknik player Mohamed Kamarul.
RESULTS: Division One: Tengku Mahkota SS 4 Petaling Jaya CC 0.
Division Two: Group A -- Nur Insafi 1 Kelantan HA 7, Perlis 1 1Mas Penang 0, Anderson Jnrs 3 SERATAS 0.
Group B: Tunas Muda Pahang 2 Bukit Jalil SS Juniors 3, Padang Midin 2 Johor HA 5, Olak PKT 1 Politeknik KPT 2.
DIVISION ONE
P W D L F A Pts
PJCC 7 6 0 1 11 9 18
SSTMI 6 5 0 1 29 3 15
UniKL 6 5 0 1 28 6 15
Anderson 6 2 2 2 10 16 8
Malacca HS 6 1 2 3 9 21 5
BJSS 7 1 1 5 9 17 4
SSTMI Jnrs 5 1 1 3 6 16 4
USM-MSSSPP 5 0 0 5 6 20 0
GROUP A
P W D L F A Pts
Kelantan 8 8 0 0 38 10 24
Kedah HA Jnrs 8 4 3 1 17 6 15
Perlis 7 4 2 1 23 12 14
Anderson Jnrs 7 4 2 1 18 9 14
STAR Ipoh 7 3 1 3 6 14 10
1Mas Penang 8 3 0 5 16 15 9
Matri 6 1 1 4 5 20 4
SERATAS 6 0 1 5 1 13 1
Nur Insafi 7 0 0 7 2 27 0
GROUP B
P W D L F A Pts
KLSS 7 7 0 0 28 8 21
Poli KPT 7 6 0 1 24 6 18
OLAK 8 5 0 3 21 9 15
K Langat 7 4 0 3 10 28 12
Datuk Taha 8 3 2 3 22 12 11
TM Pahang 8 3 1 4 19 18 10
TBSS 8 3 0 5 16 20 9
Johor HA 8 2 2 4 17 23 8
BJSS Jnrs 8 2 1 5 11 28 7
SMKPM 7 0 0 7 11 27 0