Sapura edge BSN

07/06/2003

THE much awaited Malaysia Hockey League match between Sapura and Bank
Simpanan Nasional (BSN) fizzled to a boring affair as both teams only came
to life in the last 10 minutes at the Tun Razak Stadium in Kuala Lumpur
yesterday.
Nishel Kumar turned match winner for Sapura with a deft touch in the
68th minute off a penalty corner rebound, but BSN coach C. Paramalingam
felt that they were robbed by both the umpires in the 2-1 defeat.
The match almost turned into a free-for-all in the 66th minute when
BSN's Rodhanizam Radzi and Sapura's K. Logan Raj got into a shoving match.
But the situation was brought under control when umpire Gurmit Singh
flashed the yellow card to three players.
Sapura skipper S. Kuhan, who pushed Rodhanizam in his haste to break-up
the fight, was flashed the yellow card. BSN's Rodhanizam and Faizal Daud
also sat in the `sin bin' for the remainder of the match.
Sapura drew first blood in the 15th minute when Fakhrulrazi Baharuddin
scored an opportunist goal. But after that, both teams wasted numerous
chances, with Sapura failing to score from a string of penalty corners.
But after Pakistani import Syed Imran Ali equalised with a 56th minute
penalty corner, there was more urgency in Sapura's game and Nishel
hammered in the winner for a crucial three points.
"We were robbed in this match by poor umpiring. Some of the decisions
taken by the umpires against my players were very bad calls. I normally do
not criticise umpires, but today (yesterday), two veteran umpires messed
up our game," said Paramalingam.
Sapura skipper Kuhan felt his team played very badly.
"It was one of our worst matches. Nothing went right except for the
three points we won. I had an off day, as none of the penalty corners went
in," said Kuhan.
* AT the Azlan Shah Stadium, Ernst & Young hamered Ipoh City Hall 6-1.
Indian Import Len Aiyappa scored a hat-trick in the eighth, 10th and 53rd
minutes to bring his three-match tally to 13 goals. The other Ernst &
Young goals came from Mirnawan Nawawi (23rd), S. Shanker (42nd) and
Shahrun Nabil (69th). The Ipoh goal was scored by Fazreen Ekhsan Kulub in
the 17th minute.
Results: Ipoh City Hall 1 Ernst & Young 6; Pahang SC v Customs (match
abandoned); BSN 1 Sapura 2; RMR 2 Tenaga 6.
Today: Srii Aroma v Navy Dolphins (Bertam Stadium, 5.15pm); Maybank v
RMR (Tun Razak Stadium, 5.15pm); Johor Baru MC v Pa-hang SC (JB Stadium,
5.15pm).
Tomorrow: Maybank v Customs (Tun Razak Stadium, 5.15pm); Sapura v Ipoh
City Hall (Pantai Stadium, 6pm); Tenaga v Ernst & Young (Pantai Stadium,
8pm).
Monday: Johor Baru MC v BSN (JB Stadium, 5.15pm).
(END)