Sunday January 20, 2013

Win puts MBPJ in second place in league

By S. RAMAGURU

KUALA LUMPUR: Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) put themselves in contention for the MHC-Milo-NSC Junior Hockey League (MJHL) title after securing a last minute win over last year’s runners-up Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday.

The PJ side scored the only goal in a drab match in the 70th minute through Mohamed Haikal Zamri off a field attempt.

Before that goal both sides had numerous chances to score but it was tale of missed chances at both ends.

The best chance in the match came in the 62nd minute when Mohamed Hififi Rodzi sent in a cross which had the entire UniKL defence beaten but MBPJ’s Mohamed Shahafirul missed the ball completely.

And after the win, MBPJ were celebrating like champions because they have never beaten UniKl in the MJHL since the university team took part in 2010.

MBPJ coach Azlan Saufi said that the win over UniKL is already an achievement for them and added: “But we are not stopping there. We are now serious contenders for the title and we will try our best to win the coming matches. There is no doubt that Thunderbolt are the team to beat in this league.

UniKL coach K. Embaraj was disappointed with the defeat.

“Their tactic in playing the overhead passes killed us. But we will just have to try and get back on feet and fight back in our next game.”

In Malacca, Malacca High School defeated Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) 3-2, at the Bukit Serendit Hockey Stadium.

Assistant team manager R. Manogaran said after the match that the win would boost the confidence of the players ahead of the coming matches.

It was the fourth straight defeat for BJSS who are languishing at the bottom of the table and struggling this year.

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