Tuesday, September 27, 2011

KLHC a class above

KUALA Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) broke away from the pack early in the League and now look set to claim their second title in the TNB-Malaysia Hockey League.
KLHC, who won the Charity Shield by beating Tenaga National 2-1, are poised to lift the League title and then make a dash for the Overall title.
And it looks like their only challenger left standing are Sapura, who they play in their last league fixture on Oct 9.
And while KLHC -- who have nine national players in their fold -- are enjoying a super run which included an 8-0 hammering of Yayasan Negri Sembilan (YNS), teams who have hired foreign players are still struggling.
YNS have six Pakistan players, and it is believed that even though their MHL budget is about RM450,000, they still failed to produce the desired result. They have only beaten Nur Insafi 2-1 while their other defeats were against UniKL (4-3) and Tenaga (3-0).
Nur Insafi, who also have six foreign players in their stable, have only won two matches -- against UiTM (2-1) and Armed Forces (4-3).
UniKL, made up of Project 2013 players, are the revelation of the league as their persistence to use only locals, even though young, has paid off handsomely.
They started off shakily by holding UiTM 1-1 even though UiTM had five players from Oman,
UniKL then beat YNS 4-3, lost to Sapura 2-1 before holding Tenaga 3-3 which effectively ended Tenaga's League title dream even though they have nine national players to rely on.
UniKL play Maybank on Friday, and it looks like the bankers are in for a tough time.