KUALA Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) were made to
sweat for 37 minutes, before Nur Insafi cracked 5-0
to hand them their sixth League title in the Premier
Division of the Malaysia Hockey League yesterday.
Four of the titles (three League and one Overall)
came under the Ernst & Young banner, while the
other two League titles from the evolved KLHC.
The League title and RM60,000 was won with two
matches to spare, against Armed Froces-Airod
today and Tenaga Nasional next weekend.
However, KLHC must have broken into cold
sweat in the dressing room, as the score stood at
0-0 at the half-time hooter.
But former national player Chua Boon Huat gave
them a lifeline with a 37th minute field goal, his
13th this season, and forced the flood-gates open
wide.
The other goals came easy with Tengku Ahmad
Tajuddin scoring back-to-back in the 39th and 45th
minutes, while Amerullah Aziz (50th) and Ahmad
Anuar (55th).
KLHC team manager George Koshy was a little
worried initially, but a half-time lecture in the
dressing room did the trick.
"It was close in the first half as Nur Insafi had
their chances, but a 'good lecture' in the dressing
room woke them up and now we will have to work
towards lifting the Overall title," said George.
On players: "Chua and Ismail (Abu) who are both
former players, contributed immensely in our
campaign and took some of the burden off the
regular goalscorers in the national team like
Tengku (Ahmad Tajuddin)," said George.
"We expected a defeat anyway as KLHC are too
strong for any team in this tournament, and are not
overly worried, as our target is to beat Maybank
(today) and confirm our spot in the quarter-finals,"
said team manager S. Thaitchana.
The first match saw a bizzare ending as
bottom-of-the-table UiTM beat Yayasan Negri
Sembilan (YNS) 3-2 in a rain interrupted match.
Torrential rain stopped play in the 45th minute,
and UiTM were spared the agony of playing the
remaining 25 minutes because they only had two
reserves as eight players could not make it for the
match.
UiTM goals were scored by Ikmal Jabar (10th),
Rashid Baharom (33rd) and Faheed Saifullah (42nd).
YNS, who had the full squad as all their Pakistan
players had returned after playing in a domestic
tournament, got their goals off Pakistanis'
Muhammad Imran (seventh) and Shakeel Abbasi
(29th).
PREMIER DIVISION: RESULTS -- UiTM 3 Yayasan
Negri Sembilan 2, Nur Insafi 0 Kuala Lumpur
Hockey Club 5, UniKL 1 Tenaga Nasional 5, Sapura
4 Maybank 0.
TODAY: Nur Insafi v Maybank (4pm), UiTM v
Tenaga Nasional (6pm), Armed Forces-Airod v
Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (8pm), UniKL v Sapura
(KLHA, 6.30pm).
*All other matches at the Tun Razak Stadium.
DIVISION ONE: Results -- Malacca CC 1 Ipoh City
Hall 1, Universiti Sains Malaysia 0 Bukit Jalil
Sports School 5, UniTen 0 Bandar Penawar Sports
School 5.
Sunday: Malacca CC v Bukit Jalil Sports School
(Malacca, 5pm), Universiti Sains Malaysia v Bandar
Penawar Sports School (USM, 5pm), UniTen v
Armed Forces Juniors (KLHA, 5pm).
PREMIER DIVISION
P W D L F A Pt
KLHC 14 12 1 1 65 19 37
TNB 14 10 1 3 42 17 31
UNIKL 14 8 3 3 25 23 27
SAPURA 14 9 0 5 39 26 27
YNS 15 7 0 8 44 41 21
NUR INSAFI 15 4 2 9 26 47 14
MAYBANK 14 3 3 8 14 24 12
ATM 14 3 0 11 17 50 9
UITM 14 3 0 11 21 46 9
DIVISION ONE
P W D L F A Pt
ATM JNR 10 9 1 0 27 7 28
BPSS 10 6 0 4 21 15 18
BJSS 10 5 1 4 24 13 16
MALACCA CC 11 5 1 5 15 13 16
IPOH CH 12 4 3 5 19 24 15
USM 11 3 0 8 16 33 9
UNITEN 10 1 2 7 9 26 5
DIVISION ONE
P W D L F A Pt
ATM JNR 10 9 1 0 27 7 28
BPSS 10 6 0 4 21 15 18
BJSS 10 5 1 4 24 13 16
MALACCA CC 11 5 1 5 15 13 16
IPOH CH 12 4 3 5 19 24 15
USM 11 3 0 8 16 33 9
UNITEN 10 1 2 7 9 26 5
