Make or break weekend for UniKL

UNIKL finished at the bottom of the pool last season, but blossomed into a title aspirant after four matches, and will get their chance to break free when they lock horns with Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) in the Premier Division of the Malaysia Hockey League.
They will get another golden opportunity to collect points when they meet Maybank at the Tun Razak Stadium, but after that, they are likely to face a torrid time against league leaders KLHC the next day.
KLHC coach K. Dharmaraj attributed simple hockey to UniKL’s run: “They have Project 2013 players and their foreign signings are not big names, but by slaying YNS, Sapura and TNB, UniKL have shown that their brand of simple hockey is effective.”
Dharmaraj feels this weekend could make or break some teams.
“The league is still open, and I feel that there are at least four teams who can snatch the title if given a chance. That is why we need six points to keep ahead of the chasing pack,” said Dharmaraj.
As for UniKL: “Last weekend we went in thinking that four points would be good but upset the formbook and beat Sapura as well as Tenaga Nasional (both by 2-1 score lines) and it has opened up the league.
“I feel the same this weekend, and believe a total of four points against Maybank and KLHC would be a fantastic outing,” said UniKL manager Amir Azhar.
Their only ‘setback’ is that Nor Hizzat Sumantri will not play against Maybank for picking up two yellow cards.
“Other than that, we will have a full squad, and hopefully we can beat Maybank so that the players will be in a better frame of mind when they play KLHC,” said Amir.
Maybank, who last won a title in 1994, have been strug gling in the league as they drew 1-1 with defending Overall champions Tenaga Nasional and beat UiTM 2-0 but after that, they lost to Yayasan Negri Sembilan (1-4), Nur Insafi (0-2) and Sapura (0-2).

FIXTURES:
Premier Division -- Friday: UniKL v Maybank (3.30pm), Nur Insafi v Tenaga Nasional (5.15pm), UiTm v Kuala Lumpur HC (7pm), Armed Forces-Airod v Yayasan Negri Sembilan (8.45pm).
Saturday: UniKL v Kuala Lumpur HC (4pm), Nur Insafi v Yayasan Negri Sembilan (6pm), Sapura v Tenaga Nasional (8pm), UiTM v Armed Forces-Airod (KLH Stadium, 5pm).
Note: All other matches at the Tun Razak Stadium.

Division One -- Sunday: Bukit Jalil SS v Ipoh City Council (Pantai Ministry Stadium, 5pm), Malacca CC v Bandar Pe nawar SS (Malacca Stadium, 5pm), Universiti Sains Malaysia v Armed Forces Juniors (USM, 5pm).

STANDINGS
PREMIER DIVISION

P W D L F A Pt
KLHC 5 4 0 1 22 10 12
UNIKL-TRC 4 4 0 0 9 5 12
TNB 5 3 1 1 10 5 10
NUR INSAFI 4 3 0 1 10 10 9
YNS 4 2 0 2 15 11 6
SAPURA 5 2 0 3 14 13 6
MAYBANK 5 1 1 3 4 9 4
UITM 4 0 0 4 6 15 0
ATM-AIROD 4 0 0 4 4 16 0

DIVISION ONE

P W D L F A Pt
ATM JNR 3 3 0 0 8 2 9
IPOH CH 4 2 1 1 11 8 7
BJSS 3 2 0 1 7 3 6
BPSS 3 2 0 1 7 5 6
USM 5 2 0 3 8 14 6
MALACCA CC 4 1 0 3 4 6 3
UNITEN 4 0 1 3 2 9 1