UNIVERSITI Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) have had a bad season, as after 11 matches, they only have one draw to show in the Premier Division of the Malaysia Hockey League.
And in the TNB cup, they trail Sapura 0-3 going into the return leg quarter-finals today.
The other quarter-finals is still alive as Maybank hold a slim 2-1 edge over Tenaga Nasional.
League champions Terengganu Hockey Team (THT) and runners-up Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club are seeded into the semi-finals in this six-team league.
THT await the winners of Tenaga-Maybank quarters, while KLHC will play the winners of the Sapura-UniKL match.
"I'm disappointed with the way my team played in the first quarter of as they let in two penalty corner goals and we had to keep chasing for goals but missed sitters instead," said UniKL coach Arul Selvaraj who served a three-match suspension for abusing umpires, but will be back for the return leg.
"We have a steep hill to climb, but we're not throwing in the towel as it is still possible to turn the tables in the next 60 minutes," said Arul.
UniKL have let in 34 goals and only scored 17 in 11 matches, and they would need a herculean effort to stop Sapura from playing KLHC in the semi-finals.
The other quarters is expected to go to the wire again as 2-1 seems to be their favourite score.
Tenaga beat Maybank 2-1 in both the home-and-away league, while Maybank returned the 2-1 favour in the quarters.
Maybank coach S. Velappan said: "After a poor outing in the league (one win one draw) we set ourselves to play in the semi-finals of the TNB Cup, and are 50 per cent assured. I predict another close game, but we should make the grade."
And if Maybank achieve their target, they will play THT and it looks like their campaign will end there.
KLHC and THT are strongly tipped to meet in the TNB Cup final on Sept 20.
TODAY: Quarter-finals Second Leg -- Universiti Kuala Lumpur (0) v Sapura (3) (Bukit Jalil Pitch II, 6pm); Maybank (2) v Tenaga Nasional (1) (Bukit Jalil Pitch II, 8pm).
Note: First Leg scores in parenthesis.
