Akhimullah admits he has missed more chances than scored

KUALA LUMPUR: Tenaga Nasional forward Muhd Akhimullah Anuar Esook is far from content after scoring two goals in three matches in the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL).

The Kemaman-born Akhimullah was the hero for Tenaga, netting the winning goal against Terengganu to give his team a 2-1 win in the final to lift their first Tan Sri P. Alagendra Cup on Jan 6.

And on Friday, he was on target again to steer Tenaga to a convincing 4-1 win over Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) in the Premier Division.

Akhimullah, 18, who is doing his pre-university at the Tunku Mahkota Ismail Sports School (SSTMI) in Bandar Penawar, said that he is not pleased with his strike rate.

“I missed more chances in three matches than I scored. My finishing is not good and I need to be sharper in the semi-circle.

“I also need to improve my skills to beat defenders and score goals,” said Akhimullah, who made his debut in the MHL last year.

“Last year I scored six goals for Tenaga but this time I want to be consistent in netting goals.

“I want to play well to become a national striker. I’m using the league to impress the national selectors to get a call-up for national training,” said Akhimullah, who has proven himself at the junior level by scoring a whopping 22 goals to help Malaysia win their first Youth Olympic Games gold medal in Buenos Aires, Argentina, last October.

Akhimullah said he hopes to play much better in the next match against Nur Insafi at National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil today.

“We need to consistently win matches with the hope of finishing better than the third placing in the league and the overall cup last year.

“Teams like Terengganu, Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) and Maybank have foreign players and they’ll pose a threat to us in the league and the overall cup,” said Akhimullah.

Nur Insafi are bottom of the seven-team standings after they were thrashed 5-1 by Maybank on Friday.