KUALA LUMPUR: Tenaga Nasional and Sapura will meet in the final for the overall title of the Malaysia Hockey League after securing draws in the second-leg semi-final matches at the Tun Razak Stadium here yesterday.
Tenaga qualified on a 4-3 aggregate after drawing with Maybank 2-2 in an early game yesterday.
Then Sapura went into their semi-final match against Premier Division champions Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) with a 4-2 cushion from the first leg and they were forced to play a cautious game for a 1-1 result to walk into the final.
Sapura conceded seven penalty corners and still managed to defend well to deny KLHC an early lead.
The deadlock was broken in the 46th minute when KLHC’s Mohamed Shahrun Nabil turned in their eighth penalty corner rebound to keep his team in the fight for a berth in the final.
Ecstasy: Tenaga Nasional’s Mohamed Amin Rahim (second from left) reels away to celebrate after scoring the equaliser against Maybank Saturday.The match ended in a 2-2 draw. — S.S. KANESAN / The Star
Thereafter, it was the tight defending marshalled by skipper S. Kuhan and Jiwa Mohan which kept KLHC at bay.
Sapura then put the issue beyond KLHC’s reach when Kuhan found the equaliser in the 63rd minute from their first penalty corner of the match to restore their two-goal advantage and a place in the final.
This will be the first-ever final between Sapura and Tenaga in the MHL.
Tenaga were also finalists in 2007 and they won the title by beating Ernst and Young for the overall title.
For Tenaga, a draw yesterday was enough to take them into the final. And penalty corner specialist Mohamed Amin Rahim was their saviour when he scored the equaliser in the 50th minute after Maybank had taken a 2-1 lead.
Amin was also the scorer of the second goal in the first leg which gave Tenaga the 2-1 win.
Maybank started off aggressively in search of a win but it was Tenaga who took the lead in the first minute when Faizal Saari scored from a quick counter attack.
The Tigers fought back and Hafifihafiz Hanafi opened their scoring in the 14th minute through a field attempt.
In the 39th minute the Tigers went 2-1 up from a penalty corner goal by Mohamed Riduan Nasir to put them on level terms in the overall result.
But Tenaga’s Amin had the last say as he flicked home a penalty corner in the 50th minute to make it 2-2 and a place in the final.
Tenaga coach Manjit Singh said that they held the advantage with the first-leg win and thus were confident of making the final.
“Despite the early goal we did not play well in the first half as the players felt the heat. But we did manage to take advantage of the few chances and walked off with the draw. It is always difficult playing Maybank,” said Manjit.
Maybank rued their wasted chances from the penalty corners. They had four attempts and converted only one.
Maybank coach S. Vellapan said that they did not have a good flicker compared to Tenaga.
“But I am glad that the players made a fight of it and did not give up. The early goal did not rattle us and we even took the lead but we failed to hold on to it,” said Vellapan.
The final will be played at the Tun Razak Stadium on Feb 12
0 comments:
Post a Comment