Maybank’s Mohammad Faisal Kamarudin (right) tries to get past Sapura’s Mohd Fadzli Anuar in their quarter-final match yesterday. — Picture by Mohd Yusni Ariffin
By Ajitpal Singh
YAYASAN Negri Sembilan (YNS) will face Premier Division champions Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) in the semi-finals of the Malaysian Hockey League (MHL) after a nerve-wrecking quarter-final second leg win over UniKL at the Tun Razak Stadium yesterday.
YNS had to work hard before defeating UniKL 5-3 to complete a 9-5 aggregate victory while KLHC brushed aside Bandar Penawar Sports School (BPSS) 15-3 for a 26-3 aggregate win.
UniKL had a great start to overturn their 4-2 first leg defeat when Ramadan Rosli sounded the board after six minutes.
But their joy was short-lived when Deepak Thakur drew level for YNS two minutes later. And against the run of play YNS skipper Shakeel Abbasi scored from a field attempt in the 28th minute.
Vivek Gupta (42nd) and Prabhjot Singh (44th) made it 4-1 before Deepak added his second of the match in the 49th minute.
Ramadhan got his second goal in the 58th minute to make it 5-2 before skipper S. Selavarju scored seven minutes from time to reduce the deficit to 5-3.
"We knew we could win this match even when UniKL scored the first goal of the match.
"My players played to instruction and kept their cool until the final whistle. This victory will definitely raise our confidence ahead of our semi-final clash against KLHC," said YNS coach Hasnizam Ah Sim at the Tun Razak Stadium yesterday.
KLHC's massive victory over BPSS, however, does not reflect well for the sports school, who had nine guest players in their squad.
The Kuala Lumpur-side were 8-1 up in the opening 35 minutes before adding seven goals in the second half for the overwhelming victory.
The other semi-final will pit defending champions Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) against Sapura.
TNB came back from the brink of defeat to beat Division One champions Armed Forces Juniors 5-4 yesterday to complete a 11-4 aggregate.
Armed Forces took a 4-2 lead at half-time before TNB scored their last three goals in the final 13 minutes of the match.
TNB goals came from M. Kaliswaran (seventh), Mahinder Singh (20th), Faizal Saari (57th and 62nd) and Muhd Azammi Adabi (69th).
The Forces side replied through Razali Hazemi (fifth) and Szuhairi Abd Aziz (28th and 32nd).
In another match, Lim Woo Geun scored a brace to help Sapura notch a 5-1 victory over Maybank to complete an 8-1 aggregate victory.
The South Korean defender sounded the board in the 21st and 53rd minutes. Izwan Firdaus (ninth), S. Kuhan (26th) and Mohd Rodhanizam Mat Radzi (57th) netted the other goals.
Maybank replied through Hairul Nizam Abdul Rahim's penalty corner set-piece in the 35th minute.
