Alagendra Cup: THT survive KLHC charge

TERENGGANU Hockey Team (THT) edged Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club 3-2 in the quarter-finals of the Tan Sri P. Alagendra Cup at the Batu Buruk Stadium in Terengganu Tuesday.
    In the other quarters, Tenaga Nasional beat UniKL 3-2, SSTMI beat Politeknik 3-0 in shootout after the game ended 1-1 and Sapura hammered ATM Airod 7-0.
    Another open draw would be held on Thursday to pair the semi-finalists.
   "We did not do anything different from our previous matches, only that we took the chances much better this time. The game was very close and could have gone either way, as the winner was scored late in the match," said THT coach Sarjit Singh whose side has had a bad run in the League so far.
   THT took a 2-0 lead by the 39th minute before KLHC clawed back to level the score. The THT winner was scored by Jang Jung Hyun in the 56th minute off a penalty corner attempt.
   As for UniKL, their gallant run was stopped short by a fighting Tenaga.
   Failure to defend well cost UniKL a place in the semifinals as they twice came back from a goal down but defensive frailties cost them the match.
  And coach Arul Selvaraj was not at all happy with their performance.
"We were poor in defence and missed the presence of Baljit Singh who was injured," said Arul.
"And it was our failure to take chances that put paid our hopes of progressing.
"Overall it was a good performance by the younger players in both teams that showed composure and maturity.
"Though we lost but overall Malaysian hockey won as the match was highly entertaining and the youngsters showed that they can play good Hockey."
In the first round match Tenaga Nasional defeated Uitm- KPT 11-0 while UniKL edged Maybank 1-0.