THT bounce back after hammering...

TERENGGANU Hockey Team (THT) and their Argentines look like they have recovered from early jitters, and jet-lag, after they were hammered 6-2 by Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) 6-2 in the Premier Division Charity Shield.
  Double champions THT came charging back to win their next two matches convincingly, by hammering Maybank 5-1 and Tenaga Nasional 5-0 to stay in the hunt to defend their titles.
  THT, who hired four Argentina and One Pakistan player, showed better understanding after a turbulent opening match.
  "The Charity Shield is best forgotten, because almost all my players played well below par and lost 2-6. To be frank, my guest players had just arrived in Malaysia three days before we played KLHC, and they were still getting adjusted to the weather and also the time difference then," said THT coach Sarjit Singh.
  The four Argies took a total of 52 hours to arrive, with two stop overs and 16 hours in transit.
  "When my Argentine players arrived they were really tired as it nearly took them three days of travelling to finally reach their destination.
  "But now, they are used to the new time zone, as well as slowly getting adjusted to the weather," said Sarjit.
  Jose Leandro Tolin scored three penalty corner goals, one each against KLHC, Maybank and Tenaga. THT's top scorer is Faizal Saari with five goals to his name, three field, one penalty corner and one penalty stroke.
  KLHC and Sapura are leading the charge on seven points each, but they THT are snapping at their heels and its going to be another exciting MHL weekend when THT play Sapura on Friday -- as it could make or break both teams.


PREMIER DIVISION

                                         P W D L F  A Pts
KL HOCKEY CLUB 3 2 1 0 10 5 7
SAPURA                         3 2 1 0 7  5 7
T'GGANU HT                 3 2 0 1 12 7 6
TENAGA                3 2 0 1 5  8 6
UniKL                       3 0 0 3 3  6 0
MAYBANK               3 0 0 3 3  9 0

Maybank suffer third defeat..

MAYBANK turned out to be the early casualty in Premier One of the Malaysia Hockey Legue (MHL) as they fell to their third defeat when they were edged 2-1 by Sapura yesterday.

  After losing 2-1 to Tenaga Nasional and 5-1 to Terengganu Hockey Team, the defeat yesterday has put Maybank out of contention for a top-two finish.

  And it looks like the Tigers' investment in six foreign players, five Pakistan and one from India, has made little difference to their campaign.

  Sapura, with five imports, impressed when they held Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club 3-3 on Friday.

  Yesterday, Maybank took the lead off Mohamad Syafiq Zain in the ninth minute, but Dangerous Lee drew level in the 38th minute, while Pakistan import Abdul Haseem Khan nailed the Sapura winner in the 54th minute.

  "We have had a good start this season and hope to keep the momentum going in the remaining matches. Today (yesterday) we had to chase after being a goal down, and my players put up a good fight," said Sapura coach Tai Beng Hai who is riding the MHL on seven points after three matches.

   Maybank coach S. Vellapan said in all three matches they had to chase in the final quarter and that cost them the matches.

  "We were always chasing for goals and when we opened up to counter, that is when we got hit. In the remaining matches, we need to make sure this does not happen," said Vellapan.

    RESULTS: Premier Division: Maybank 1 Sapura 2, UniKL 0 KL Hockey Club 1, Tenaga Nasional 0 Terengganu HT 5.

  Division One Group A: BJSS 2 MBI 1, MSN-THT v TNB Thunderbolts (Match abandoned, rain).

  Group B: UniKL Young Guns 1 SSTMI Thunderbolts 1, ATM Airod 4 PKS-KPM 5, UiTM 2 Politeknik 0.

  Women's Group A: MSN-PHT 1 Politeknik 2; Group B: Manjung 0 UiTM Lions 3.