KUALA LUMPUR: Defending champions KL Hockey Club (KLHC) strolled to another easy win in the Premier Division of the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) when they whipped Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) 8-1 at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday.

KLHC top the standings with 12 points after four matches and take on Tenaga Nasional on Friday to complete their first round of matches.

KLHC took a three-goal lead in the first half through Ismail Abu, Nabil Fiqri Mohamed Nor and Mohamed Razie Rahim in the 12th, 20th and 27th minutes respectively.

UniKL pulled a goal back in the 39th minute through a penalty corner conversion by Mohamed Noor Faeez Ibrahim.

But it only served to put KLHC on a higher gear as they went on to score four goals.

Ismail Abu hit his second in the 40th minute while Mohamed Amerullah Abdul Aziz and Harvinder Singh scored in the 44th and 51st minutes.

Amerullah was again on target in the 66th minute and Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin scored two minutes later as KLHC walked off with the biggest winning margin in the league so far.

Earlier, Tenaga Nasional snatched their third win when they edged Sapura 1-0. The win allowed Tenaga to keep pace with the leaders KLHC, whom they will meet on Friday.

Tenaga have 10 points after four matches and like the defending champions remain unbeaten.

Tenaga started off on the offensive and piled up the early pressure on Sapura.

Tenaga’s top striker Faisal Saari was surprisingly off form and it was left to his national squad team-mate Mohamed Firhan Azhaari to find the winner in the 44th minute.

Sapura also had their chances to score in the 31st and 34th minute but Mohamed Marhan Jalil and Harmesh Singh muffed their attempts.

Even veteran S. Kuhan, who came in as a substitute in the 20th minute, failed to lift Sapura as they went down to their second defeat in the league.

Tenaga coach Nor Saiful Zaini was happy with the win but admitted his side’s finishing was poor.

“We have mostly national trainees in the team but we were still not up to the mark. We had many chances to score, but we failed to convert them. A team like KL Hockey Club would have scored several goals,” said Saiful.

“The oldest player on our team is just 22 and thus maturity is sorely lacking. Hopefully we can improve and work harder at our game” he added.

At the Sultan Azlan Shah Stadium in Ipoh, Maybank scored their first win with a 6-2 thrashing of Nur Insafi-Perak.

The bankers had to come back from a goal down to notch their win.

Nur Insafi drew first blood through a penalty corner by Nur Hrsikesa Thaitchana Muruthi in the 18th minute.

Maybank stormed back into the game with Mohamed Irfan scoring two penalty corner goals in the 27th and 32nd minutes. Then Shakeel Abbasi was on target in the 52nd minute before Mohamed Waqas (58th, 70th) and Hairul Nizam Rani completed the rout.

Nur Insafi’s Wassim Ahmad was also on target with a field goal in the 53rd minute.

Maybank are now in fourth position and meet UniKL on Friday as the MHL enters the half way stage.

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