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| UniKL’s Mohd Hafify Mohd Rodzi (centre) tussles with BJSS’ Muhamad Fitri Ismail in their match yesterday. BJSS won 3-2. Pic by Yazit Razali |
Playing at the Ministry of Education Stadium, UniKL were a pale shadow of themselves, and were lucky to walk away with a victory to keep their League title hopes alive.
UniKL walked onto the pitch like they were expecting an easy victory, but they were proven wrong by BJSS in the 27th minute when Fitri Ismail scored off their only penalty corner of the first half.
UniKL wasted seven penalty corners mostly due to bad stopping, and went into the dressing room with their heads low as they trailed by a goal for the first time this season.
However, the pep-talk in the dressing room changed their fortunes, as UniKL came back into the picture off their first penalty corner after the break in the 39th minute when Nor Aqmal Gaffar scored the equaliser off a direct attempt.
And the second goal followed in the 44th minute, when Haziq Samsul scored off a goalmouth melee after a botched penalty corner attempt.
BJSS however refused to give up, and levelled the score at 2-2 in the 50th minute when Wan Mohamed Hazrul slammed in the ball off their second penalty corner of the match.
There was more misery for UniKL as their skipper Taufik Hamid slammed the face of BJSS player Ashraf Alias with his stick, and was red carded by umpire Jasveer Singh in the 55th minute.
However, 10-man UniKL held on by sheer grit, and won the match with a 69th minute field strike from Haniff Saidin.
"It was not what we expected, but still, I'm proud of my players as they came back from a goal down to win this crucial match and keep our title holes alive," said UniKL team manager Amir Azhar.
And in the earlier match at the same venue, BJSS Juniors lost 1-0 to USM-MSSSPP.
The solitary goal was scored by Sazli Hussaini in the 30th minute and now it looks like BJSS Juniors are doomed to play in the lower division next year.
Sapura claimed their sixth successive win in Division Two Group A when they hammered Kedah HA Juniors 5-0 at the KLHA Stadium in Pantai.
Sapura took the lead in the 17th minute off Shahfirul Aqmal and in the 26th minute increased the lead through the efforts of Ahmad Iqwan.
In the second half goals from Ammar Adly (41st), Iqwan (45th) and Fadzli Zulkifli (51st) gave them a convincing win.
RESULTS -- Division One: BJSS Juniors 0 USM-MSSPP 1, MBPJ 2 SSTMI Juniors 1, BJSS 2 UniKL 3.
Division Two, Group A: Negri HA 0 Anderson Juniors 5, Sapura 5 Kedah HA Juniors 0, KHA-MSNK 3 MSSPP-USM Juniors 0, PHK-MSS Kelantan 2 Nur Insafi 1.
Division Two, Group B: Yayasan Pahang 1 Olak-PKT 1, Malacca High School 4 KL Sports School 0, Datuk Taha 1 Tunas Pahang 0.
TODAY: Division Two, A: MSS Kelantan v Negri HA (Seremban II, 4pm).
Read more: HOCKEY: Pep-talk does the trick - Other - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/sports/other/hockey-pep-talk-does-the-trick-1.42189#ixzz1mEi3dFZl
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