TERENGGANU Hockey Team struggled to beat Maybank 4-3 in the Malaysia Hockey League Premier Division at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday.
South Korean import Jang Jong Hyun, who only arrived Thursday, nailed a hat-trick of penalty corners in the 21st, 37th and 58th, while the other goal was scored by Firhan Ashaari (47th).
Maybank's goals were scored by Amirullah Zainol (28th), Syafiq Zain (38th) and Jiwa Mohan (45th).
In another match,Tenaga Nasional notched their first win when they beat UniKL 3-0 with goals from Shahril Saabah (12th), Izad Hakimi (35th) and Ramadan Rosli (47th).
"Realistically speaking, we have lost the League title fight and hopefully this win will spur us to play much better in the Second Round which will prepare us for the knock-out stages," said skipper Madzli Ikmar.
UniKL coach Arul Selvaraj was also looking forward to the Second Round: "Even though we are at the bottom of the six-team pool with three defeats, I feel my players are improving with every game, and we will be mych better prepared for the Second Round."
UniKL lost their penalty corner flicker Jonas Weinhardt, from Germany, to hamstring and will be out for at least two weeks.
Meanwhile, a waterlogged Pitch I caused the Sapura-Kuala Lumpur HC match to be abandoned to midweek.
RESULTS: Sapura v KLHC (match abandoned, rain), UniKL 0 Tenaga 3, Maybank 3 Terengganu HT 4.
SUNDAY: Maybank v UniKL (6pm, Pitch I), KLHC v Terengganu HT (6pm, Pitch II), Tenaga v Sapura (8pm, Pitch II).
STANDINGS
P W D L F A Pts
TERENGGANU 3 3 0 0 13 4 9
KLHC 2 2 0 0 9 4 6
SAPURA 2 1 1 0 4 3 4
TENAGA 3 1 0 2 7 7 3
MAYBANK 3 0 1 2 6 10 1
UNIKL 3 0 0 3 1 12 0