UniKL and TNB a step away

TENAGA Nasional and Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) are just a step away from playing in the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) TNB Cup final — provided they keep their feet firmly on the ground.

In the first leg semi-finals on Sunday, Tenaga edged Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club 3-2, while UniKL slayed Terengganu Hockey Team (THT) 4-1.

KLHC won the Charity and Alagendra Cup, while THT are the League champions.

UniKL and Tenaga need to maintain their grip i n the second leg semi-finals tomorrow to play in the final on Saturday.

“As far as we are concerned the second leg will start at 0-0 and we are going to treat is as a totally new game altogether,” said UniKL coach Arul Selvaraj.

“There is no such thing as trying to defend the three-goal advantage, especially against a team like THT.

“We will play the same way as we did in the first leg and prevent them from getting penalty corners where they are deadly.”

Arul said all his players were available for the second leg and yesterday was spent on trying out certain tactics to contain THT.

And as far as KLHC coach Lim Chiow Chuan is concerned, his team need to display more consistency.

“We played reasonably well in the first quarter, making good in roads into their semi circle and won four penalty corners,” said Chiow Chuan.

“After that we got impatient and made errors in the midfield which Tenaga capitalised well with their counter attack game plan.

“Individual errors crept in and our game fell apart.

“However, we managed to regroup in the final quarter and played to our level.

“Credit to the players for their effort.”

Chiow Chuan believes that his team will be able to overcome the one goal deficit tomorrow.

Tenaga Nasional (3) v Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (2) (National Stadium Pitch II, 6pm), Universiti Kuala Lumpur (4) v Terengganu Hockey Team (1) (National Stadium Pitch II, 8.30pm).

Jugjet Singh