Thunderbolts retain title..

TENGKU Mahkota Ismail Sports School (SSTMI) Thunderbolts survived a seven-goal thriller to defend their NSC-Milo-MHC Division One league title at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday.
  The double champions edged UniKL Young Guns 4-3 in a highly entertaining match which went to the wire and kept the fans at the edge of their seats for 70 minutes.
  Even though UniKL took a fifth minute lead, Thunderbolts perfected four penalty corners, out of the six they won, to grab the title from the university's gasps.
  The Thunderbolts heroes yesterday were Amir Zulkarnain who scored two penalty corner goals in the 27th and 66th minutes, while the other two were scored by Azril Misron in the 13th and 31st minutes.
  The UniKL goals were scored by Azrul Hasbullah (fifth), while Thunderbolts Najmi Farizal scored an own goal in the 28th minute, and the third was scored by Syafiq Zulzairin in the 38th minute.
  Thunderbolts received RM15,000, while the second spot went to Petaling Jaya City Council, who also ended on 18 points but lost out on goals-scored and received RM10,000. UniKL won RM8,000 for third placing while fourth placed team Anderson received RM7,000.
  "It was a grueling match for my players because we played four matches back-to-back and they did look tired in patches, but their never say die attitude finally won the match," said Thunderbolts coach Wan Roslan Wan Rahman.
  Wan Roslan was also surprised with the penalty corner conversion: "It was an almost perfect show in the penalty corners which won us the title, and frankly speaking, I did not expect the win to come from that department," said Wan Roslan.
  UniKL coach K. Embaraj was disappointed with the result, but not with his charges.
  "My boys have every reason to hold their heads high even in defeat, as they gave their best but lost out in penalty corner defense. Still, I believe in looking forward, and the Overall title can be ours if they play with this much of commitment in the knock-out stage," said Embaraj.
  The quarter-finals start on Feb 22.
  
RESULTS AND FIXTURES

DIVISION ONE

STANDINGS

               P W D L F A Pts

SSTMI          7 6 0 1 33 6  18
PJCC           7 6 0 1 11 9  18
UNIKL          7 5 0 2 31 10 15
MBI-ANDERSON   7 2 2 3 11 19 8
SSTMI JUNIORS  7 2 1 4 12 21 7
MALACCA HIGH   7 1 3 3 10 22 6
BJSS           7 1 1 5 9  17  4
MSSP-USM       7 1 1 5 11 24 4



RESULTS: USM 4 SSTMI Juniors 3, UniKL 3 SSTMI 4.



DIVISION TWO

GROUP A

             P W D L F A Pts

MSS KELANTAN 8 8 0 0 38 10 24
ANDERSON JR  8 5 2 1 25 9  17
MSS PERLIS   8 5 2 1 27 14 17
KEDAH HA JR  8 4 3 1 17 6  15
STAR         8 4 1 3 9  15  13
1MAS PENANG  8 3 0 5 16 15  9
MATRI        8 1 1 6 6  30  4
SERATAS      7 0 1 6 3  17  1
NUR INSAFI   7 0 0 7 2  27  0


RESULTS : STAR 3 MATRI 1, SERATAS x NUR INSAFI x (7pm start).



GROUP B



           P W D L F A Pts

KLSS       8 8 0 0 34 8  24
POLI KPT   8 7 0 1 27 6  21
OLAK-PKT   9 6 0 3 27 10 18
DATUK TAHA 9 4 2 3 32 12 14
K. LANGAT  7 4 0 3 10 28 12
TM PAHANG  8 3 1 4 19 18 10
TBSS       9 4 0 5 19 22 12
JOHOR HA   9 2 2 5 18 29 8
BJSS JR    9 2 1 6 11 31 7
PDG MIDIN  9 0 0 9 11 43 0


RESULTS: KLSS 6 SMK PADANG MIDIN 0, SMK TUNKU BESAR 3 TUNAS PAHANG 2,

BJSS JRS 0 POLITEKNIK-KPT 3.