DEFENDING champions Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) were made to sweat before edging Sapura 3-2 in the Premier Division of the Malaysia Hockey League at the Kuantan Stadium yesterday.
KLHC completed the first round with only one blemish, a 3-3 draw against Tenaga Nasional, and look good to break free in the second round starting this Friday.
KLHC coach K. Dharmaraj said it was an important win, as they will start the second round against Sapura again.
“We let in a goal and had to chase back for the win which resulted in unnecessary pressure in the last 10 minutes of the match. However, I am happy that we did not drop points in this match, as we will be playing against Sapura again on Friday in the second leg.
“It was an important win, as I did not want to give Sapura an edge going into Friday,” said Dharmaraj.
KLHC were given a scare in the sixth minute when Azrul Hasbullah connected a reverse stick cross to hand Sapura the lead, but Pakistan import Muhammad Imran put them level off a 35th minute penalty corner.
And two quick goals by Imran in the 48th minute and Chua Boon Huat in the 54th minute gave KLHC some breathing space.
Sapura’s Khasif Ali converted a penalty corner in the 60th minute to reduce the margin, but could not capitalise on two penalty more penalty corners they won in the 64th and 65th minutes.
As for UniKL, they finally won their second match in mid-season when Noor Faeez Ibrahim delivered a hat-trick in the 18th, 22nd and 67th minutes. The Terengganu goal was scored by Jivan Mohan in the 40th minute.
“It was a fantastic performance and I am really proud of my players. They never gave our opponents much space, and we hope to build on this in the second round,” said UniKL coach Arul Selvaraj.
RESULTS: Premier Division -- Sapura 2 KLHC 3, Terengganu 1 UniKL 3, Tenaga x Maybank x.
Note: Matches at Pitch I and II of the Kuantan Hockey Stadium.
STANDINGS
PREMIER DIVISION
P W D L F A Pts
KLHC 6 5 1 0 27 8 16
Maybank 5 4 0 1 20 12 12
TNB 5 2 3 0 18 11 9
Sapura 6 2 2 2 15 14 8
UniKL 6 2 0 4 9 18 6
Tgganu 6 1 1 4 13 19 4
N Insafi 6 0 1 5 6 26 1
