Fully-charged Tenaga overpower Nur Insafi to go top

KUALA LUMPUR: Tenaga Nasional, powered by 10 national players, went on a goal spree to hammer hapless Nur Insafi 10-0 to top the Premier Division standings in the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL).

It was Tenaga’s second straight win as they defeated Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) 4-1 last week.

For Nur Insafi, it was their second defeat as they were outplayed 1-5 by Maybank last week.

Tenaga, who won the Tan Sri P. Alagendra Cup on Jan 6, started off aggressively by netting seven goals in the first two quarters.

Eighteen-year-old Muhd Akhimullah Anuar Esook was the toast after netting a brace in the 30th and 57th minutes.

Tenaga’s other goals came via Muhd Firhan Ashaari (10th), Norshafiq Sumantri (15th), Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin Tengku Abd Jalil (18th), Shello Silverius (19th), Nik Muhammad Aiman Nik Rozemi (25th), Muhammad Azrai Aizad Abu Kamal (27th), Mohd Ramadan Rosli (47th) and Mohd Noor Firdaus Rosdi (48th).

Tenaga coach Nor Saiful Zaini was delighted with the big win.

“I’m happy with the players’ performance as we took our chances well to score a double digit win,” said Nor Saiful.

“If we continue playing like this, we can win another title,” said Nor Saiful.

Terengganu registered their first win by outplaying TNB-Thunderbolt 4-0 at the Batu Buruk Hockey Stadium in Kuala Terengganu.

Faizal Saari gave Terengganu the lead in the 18th minute before South Korean Jang Jong-hyun doubled the score in the 24th minute.

Skipper Mohd Fitri Saari made it 3-0 in the 48th minute before Mohd Rashid Baharom completed the rout in the 60th.

Last year’s overall champions Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) also chalked up their first win by edging Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) 2-1 at the Tun Razak Stadium.

Mohd Sukri Abdul Mutalib gave UniKL the lead in the 40th minute before Holland’s Martijn Havenga made it two six minutes later.

Mohd Azwar Andul Rahman narrowed the deficit for UiTM in the 59th minute.