UNIVERSITI Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) have a chance to turn giant-killers, provided they upset Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) Premier Division leaders Friday.
Riding on two wins from last weekend, UniKL are hoping for another positive show against KLHC at the Kuala Lumpur Hockey Stadium.
UniKL edged Tenaga Nasional 1-0 in the League Sunday and on Tuesday beat Maybank, also 1-0, in the Tan Sri P. Alagendra knockout tournament.
Their only blemish so far is a 3-0 opening defeat to Sapura.
KLHC, on the other hand, got off to a rousing start by defeating double champions Terengganu Hockey Team 2-1 in their opening match before trashing Sapura 5-2.
Therefore UniKL are bracing themselves for all possibilities, asKLHC look much stronger this year despite not having Razie Rahim and Nabil Fiqri.
"There is no doubt that KLHC are the favourites to win this match and getting even a point off them can be considered a victory of sorts," said UniKL coach Arul Selvaraj.
"We need to be tight at the back and pack the midfield as they have quality players that can capitalise on half a chance.
" And then there is also the penalty corners that we need to avoid conceding as KLHC are deadly in this area."
UniKL have been relying on good tactical play to overcome their more fancied opponents thus far.
"We need to focus on our game and not pay to much attention to any particular player in KLHC as realistically we have nothing to lose but everything to gain from this match."
FRIDAY: Premier Division -- Maybank v Sapura (Malacca, 6pm), UniKL v KLHC (KLHA, 6pm), Tenaga v Terengganu HT (KLHA, 8pm).
ALAGENDRA CUP -- Quarter-finals (Aug 30): Terengganu Hockey Team v Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (Batu Buruk, 5.30pm)); Politeknik Malaysia v SSTMI (Taman Daya, 5.00pm)); Sapura Hockey Club v ATM Airod (KLHA, 8.00pm); Universiti Kuala Lumpur v Tenaga Nasional Berhad (KLHA Stadium, 6.00pm).
PREMIER DIVISION
P W D L F A Pts
KLHC 2 2 0 0 7 3 6
THT 2 1 0 1 6 3 3
SAPURA 2 1 0 1 5 5 3
UNIKL 2 1 0 1 1 3 3
MAYBANK 2 1 0 1 5 8 3
TENAGA 2 0 0 2 3 5 0
