Thursday, March 6, 2014

Going through the motions..

SSTMI Thunderbolts are set to play UniKL Young Guns in the Milo Cup final on Sunday, after both sides registered thumping wins in the first leg of the Milo Cup semi-finals on Wednesday.
     Thunderbolts zapped Olak-PKT 6-1, while UniKL beat Petaling Jaya City Council 5-2 t virtually turn the second leg semi-finals into a warm-up before the title clash on Sunday.
    Thunderbolts will be gunning for their double, while UniKL will be out to make amends to their 4-1 defeat to Thunderbolts in the League.
    However, UniKL have improved much since as even though they could only edge PJCC 2-1 in the League, there was a better performance from the University side in the first leg semi-finals.
   UniKL manager Faiz Isa said battle is only half won as they still have 70 minutes to play, and he knows that in hockey things can change with the blink of an eye.
   PJCC need to score an early goal if they harbour hopes of making a comeback and Faiz said the coaching staff of UniKL are well aware of this.
    “That is why we need to hit them first because if we allow them to score, it might give them the much needed boost,” said Faiz.
     “We cannot allow them to take control of the second leg and at the same time must make our chances count.”
    For Thunderbolts, it will just be another 70 minutes of hockey in the second leg as their minds are already on Sunday’s final.
   “We have a healthy lead and I cannot see us losing it. So, what we need to do is go through the motions and look forward to the final on Sunday,” said coach Wan Roslan Rahman.
    Olak-PKT has had a dream run thus far and their coach and manager combination of S. Sivabalan and Joseph de Silva should be proud of the exploits of their players.
   “We made many errors in the first leg but we are not going to give them a free ride into the final,” said coach Sivabalan.
    FRIDAY -- Milo Cup semi-finals (second leg): SSTMI Thunderbolts (6) v Olak-PKT (1) (5pm); UniKL Young Guns (5) v Petaling Jaya City Councik (2) (5pm). Both matches at Pitch I and II of the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil.