TERENGGNANU team manager Saberi Salleh said they will stick with the present coaching set-up for the second leg of the Malaysia Hockey Legue, as he feels his team has achieved their target even though the results are not very encouraging.
The debutantes had secured six national players to strengthen their campaign, while the rest were mostly their Malaysia Games players.
“If you study at the standings, Terengganu look like a flop in their first Premier Division season. But in reality, the six national players which we hired, have been very instrumental in helping our Malaysia Games players improve their game.
“The management can see this change in the young boys, and so, we have no plans to hire a consultant or change the coaching set-up for the second round,” said Saberi.
Terengganu had paid big bucks to secure Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin, Fitri Saari, Azlan Misron, Shahrun Nabil, Ismail Abu and Ameerullah Aziz but have been a flop as they have only one win and a draw to show in mid-season.
“Every team has an objective, and ours was to help the youth in our team to became more confident, matured players by playing alongside established names.
“The state government has pledged to continue supporting our team to play in the MHL, so we are not in for a short term, but looking to nurture our state-born players into better players and I am sure the results will follow suit,” said Saberi.
Their only win was against Nur Insafi (5-1) while the draw was against Tenaga Nasional (4-4).
They will open their second round campaign against UniKL, who beat them on Sunday 3-1.
On the other end of the scale, defending champions Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) are clear by four points from the chasing pack of Sapura and Tenaga who have 12 points in mid-season.
KLHC play Sapura again on Friday, and a win would almost hand the League title to them early in the second round.
STANDINGS
PREMIER DIVISION
P W D L F A Pts
KLHC 6 5 1 0 27 8 16
TNB 6 3 3 0 23 12 12
Maybank 6 4 0 2 21 17 12
Sapura 6 2 2 2 15 14 8
UniKL 6 2 0 4 9 18 6
Tgganu 6 1 1 4 13 19 4
N Insafi 6 0 1 5 6 26 1