Skipper Fitri wants to end Charity Shield hoodoo
KUALA LUMPUR: Skipper Mohd Fitri Saari (pic) aims to end Terengganu’s jinx in the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) Charity Shield.
The East Coast team have failed to win the match in their own backyard for the last three years. They lost to KL Hockey Club (KLHC) on all occasion.
Last year’s Premier Division league champions Terengganu face overall champions Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) today, but the hosts are ready to get it right at the Batu Buruk Hockey Stadium in Kuala Terengganu.
Fitri said UniKL were the fancied team as they would be represented by four foreign and a few national players.
“We lost to KLHC for three consecutive years at home. But we hope to be lucky in our fourth attempt against UniKL,” said Fitri, who has been Terengganu’s skipper since 2014.
“The university team have made great strides by winning the league title.”
The national midfielder admitted that their abysmal penalty corner conversion rate stood out like a sore thumb.
“We earned 16 penalty corners against Tenaga Nasional in the final of the Tan Sri P. Alagendra Cup last Sunday and our specialist Jang Jonghyun of South Korea failed to sound the board not even once,” added Fitri.
“But we’ve been working on our penalty corner set pieces and hope to get it right against UniKL.”
Terengganu also squandered a penalty stroke and lost 2-1 to Tenaga Nasional in the final of the Tan Sri P. Alagendra Cup.
UniKL coach A. Arulselvaraj said they would be banking on Irish goalkeeper David Harte, Australian Kieran Govers and Dutchman Martin Havenga to add spice in the match.
“Govers and Harte played for us last year, and they have a good understanding of our playing structure. Havenga is new and he will play in midfield and defence,” said Arulselvaraj, whose side were beaten 4-1 by Tenaga Nasional in the semi-finals.
“We hope to play better in the Charity Shield after losing in the Tan Sri P. Alagendra Cup.”