Another Stahr-ry nite for UniKL

PHILIPP Stahr shone like a beacon to guide UniKL
to a last-minute victory against Maybank in the
Premier Division of the Malaysia Hockey League at
the Kuantan Stadium yesterday.
The highly charged match, which saw six yellow
cards being flashed, was heading towards a 1-1
draw but a last minute penalty corner gave full
points to the university side.
UniKL's German import Kevin Lim gave them the
lead with a 39th minute penalty corner but
39-year-old former international Chairil Anwar
equalised for Maybank with a 55th minute field goal.
The match turned robust after that, and six five
were flashed the yellow card to cool down the
situation.
From Maybank, K. Gobinathan (35th), Riduan
Nasir (66th) and Hairul Nizam (41st) were flashed
the yellow, as for UniKL, Khairil Anuar saw yellow
twice (in the 47th and 59th minutes) while Syamin
Yusof was sent out in the (59th).
And just when Maybank were ready to celebrate
their hard-fough draw, UniKL won a penalty corner
in the 70th minute and Stahr flicked in the winner.
Maybank coach Wallace Tan attributed his team's
erratic form to injuries, and inexperienced juniors.
"I am not making excuses forour worst season in
a decade, but we have been bogged down by a
string of injuries, six players to be precise, and have
also fielded five juniors who lack match
experience," said Wallace.
Among those injured are Maybank's only national
player Hafifi Hafiz: "The young players made some
basic mistakes which led to goals being scored
against us. But I am still giving them maximum
time, because I am looking at the next season,
where hopefully they will become more confident."
Tenaga Nasional bounced back from a 2-0 defeat
to Sapura on Friday to hammer Nur Insafi 5-2.
Amin Rahim, the best flicker in the country,
delivered a hat-trick in the 25th, 47th and 55th
minutes, while the other goals were scored by
Faizal Saari (58th, 67th).
However, TNB coach Nor Saiful Zaini was far
from satisfied with their campaign so far.
"We are too far back to chase the leaders (KLHC)
and our mission now is to finish second and avoid
KLHC in the quarter-finals draw.
"I am happy with today (yesterday) but we lost
out against Sapura, UniKL and YNS. And in the last
two matches we had 12 penalty corners but failed
to score a single goal, even though we have the
best flicker in the country.
"It looks like winning the Leaue title is out of our
hands, and we must plan for the TNB Cup from
now," said Saiful, a former national skipper.
In another match, Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club
(KLHC) rested many key players against UITM, but
still won 6-1 with ease to strenghten their grip at
the top of the standings.

STANDINGS
PREMIER DIVISION
P W D L F A Pt
KLHC 10 8 1 1 47 15 25
YNS 10 7 0 3 35 22 21
UNIKL-TRC 10 6 2 2 18 14 20
TNB 10 6 1 3 21 12 19
SAPURA 9 5 0 4 27 19 15
NUR INSAFI 10 4 1 5 18 30 13
MAYBANK 9 1 3 5 7 14 6
ATM-AIROD 10 2 0 8 10 32 6
UITM 10 1 0 9 14 39 3

DIVISION ONE
P W D L F A Pt
ATM JNR 6 5 1 0 15 3 16
BPSS 6 4 0 2 12 10 12
BJSS 6 4 0 2 14 6 12
MALACCA CC 7 3 0 4 10 9 9
IPOH CH 7 2 2 3 12 15 8
USM 6 2 0 4 8 17 6
UNITEN 6 0 1 5 3 14 1

PREMIER DIVISION: RESULTS: Maybank 1 UniKL 2,
Tenaga Nasional 5 Nur Insafi 2, Kuala Lumpur
Hockey Club 6 UiTM 1, Yayasan Negri Sembilan 3
Armed Forces-Airod 1.
DIVISION ONE: Sunday -- Ipoh City Council v Bukit
Jalil Sports School (Azlan Shah Stadium, 5pm),
Bandar Penawar Sports School v Malacca CC
(Bandar Penawar, 5pm), Armed Forces Juniors v
Universiti Sains Malaysia (Tun Razak Stadium, 5pm).