Saturday, January 16, 2016

JHL: UniKL in a state of shock..

UNIKL Young Guns coach I. Vickneswaran woke up to a crackling hangover yesterday, as he still can't get over the fact that his boys were hammered 6-1 by Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) Thunderbolts in Division One of the Junior Hockey League on Friday.
  BJSS walked onto the pitch as the whipping boys of last season, while UniKL were the double silver medallists, but the tables were turned on them four times in the first half-itself.
  "Its a hard and painful lesson for my players who took BJSS for granted after they beat them 4-2 in a friendly before the JHL started.
  "I'm still coming to grips, and the only reason I can think of is that the majority of my boys played their first game in Division One, and were slow off the block as they let in four goals in 35 minutes," said Vickneswaran.
  UniKL only managed to retain two players from last season, while the others moved to Olak Tigers and Petaling Jaya Minicipal Council (PJCC).
  Interestingly, PJCC opened their campaign with a 2-0 win over Olak.
  "We play Olak Sunday and there is no other path for my players than to wake up from the whipping and snatch the three points from Olak. If not, we will be in deep trouble this season," said Vickneswaran.
  The most promising start of the season in Division One was by  Temerloh Sports School -- SSP-MSP-Thunderbolts -- who whitewashed last season's Division Two champions Nur Insafi 11-1. Newly promoted Nur Insafi is expected to face a torrid time the entire season.
  SSP-MSP-Thunderbolts will meet high riding BJSS Thunderbolts today, and it will show the true strength of both the teams.
  Even though both teams are sponsored and trained by Tenaga Nasional, the Thunderbolts' clash will have 'No Mercy' as its tag-line.
  "Even though both the teams are under the Tenaga Nasional Thunderbolts programme, there will be no love lost when we meet Sunday. I expect my players to give their best again, as a win would put us in a good position to challenge the other Thunderbolts in Division One -- SSTMI Thunderbolts," said BJSS Thunderbolts coach K. Rajan.
  Tenaga Nasional, under the Thunderbolts banner, provide funds and coaching to three teams in Division One and Anderson in Division Two.
  RESULTS: Division Two: Group A: MSS Kedah 6 Kedah Juniors 0, Matri 0 Perlis Young Lions 1, Perlis Young Lions jnrs 0 Penang MSPP-USM 3.
  Group B: Anderson Thunderbolts 5 MSNPK-ILHC 1, Anderson PHA 3 Felda Juniors 0, BJSS Juniors 5 MISCF-UFL 0.
  Group C: Malacca High 2 Young Hurricanes 2, Datuk Taha 0 TBSS Tampin 3, MSNT-Terengganu HT 0 Pahang Academy 0, SM Sains Johor 0 SMKDBL Jnrs 2.
  SUNDAY -- Division One: BJSS Thunderbolts v SSP-MSP-Thunderbolts (National Stadium II, 5pm), SMKDBL Young Guns v SSTMI Thunderbolts (Batu Pahat, 5pm), SSTMI Juniors v Politeknik Malaysia (SSTMI, 5pm), Olak Tigers v UniKL Young Guns (Tun Razak, 5pm), Nurinsafi v Petaling Jaya Municipal Council (Sungai Petani, 5pm).