Terengganu march into semis

By Ajitpal Singh
ajitpalsingh@nst.com.my

TERENGGANU have advance to the semi-finals of the National Under-16 hockey competition when they came back from a goal down to edge Singapore 2-1 in Group B at the Seremban II Stadium in Negri Sembilan yesterday.
Singapore, the last year’s runners-up, scored first through Karleef Saal Abdullah in the ninth minute.
Terengganu only found their momentum in the last five minutes of the match against the defensive-minded Sin gapore side.
Firdaus Shuib leveled the score with a field attempt in the 65th minute and Firhan Ashari sounded the board off a penalty corner conversion, two minutes later, for the winning goal.
Terengganu team manager Shamsul Ismail said it was rather difficult to break into the Singapore’s semi-circle.
“Singapore played defensively and it was initially tough to get the goals. However, my charges continued to press hard and it paid dividends,” said Shamsul when contacted in Negri Sembilan yesterday.
“My players proved today (yesterday) that they are a determined lot. I have told my charges to make impression against Negri tomorrow (today) to top the group,”
The toss for the other semi-final spot in Group B is between Negri and Penang, who each have nine points.
Negri play Terengganu while Penang face Singapore to day..
Meanwhile, Perak, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor will battle for semi-final spots in Group A and all three teams must win today to keep their hope alive.
Yesterday, Selangor waited until the last minute to score the winner against Perlis to win 2-1 yesterday.
Selangor’s goals were scored by Shahrul Dennis and Narmesh Singh in the 10th and 69th minutes, respectively.
Perlis replied through Amirul Hafizan Kadir in the 38th minute.
RESULTS-- Group A: Kuala Lumpur 3 Pahang 1, Perak 2 Kelantan 0, Perlis 1 Selangor 2;
Group B: Penang 3 Kedah 1, Singapore 1 Terengganu 2, Johor 0 Negri Sembilan 1.
TODAY-- Group A: Pahang v Selangor (8am), Kuala Lumpur v Kelantan (3pm), Perak v Perlis (5pm);
Group B: Johor v Kedah (8am), Penang v Singapore (3pm), Negri Sembilan v Terengganu (5pm)

GROUP A
P W D L F A Pts
Perak 4 3 0 1 10 4 9
K Lumpur 4 3 0 1 10 4 9
Selangor 4 3 0 1 6 4 9
Kelantan 4 2 0 2 8 8 6
Perlis 4 1 0 3 7 11 3
Pahang 4 0 0 4 5 15 0

Group B
P W D L F A Pts
Terengganu. 4 4 0 0 14 3 12
Penang 4 3 0 1 12 7 9
N Sembilan 4 3 0 1 6 5 9
Singapore 4 1 1 2 7 5 4
Kedah 4 0 1 3 3 14 1
Johor 4 0 0 4 3 11 0