SSTMI Thunderbolts and BJSS Thunderbolts will make calculations to win the TNB Cup of the Malaysian Youth Hockey League (TNB MJHL) 2021 which will take place today at the Bukit Jalil National Hockey Stadium.SSTMI Thunderbolts advanced to the final after recording a 2-0 win over AHP-SSP-MSP Thunderbolts while Division 1 champions, BJSS Thunderbolts secured a place in the final after grabbing a 2-1 win over SMKDBL-PHJ-MSNJ.
Muhammad Amirul Haniff Mamat opened the scoring for BJSS Thunderbolts in the 6th minute through field movement.The young energy of BJSS Thunderbolts, who are on average 17 years old and below, is a powerful weapon for them to implement a fast and neat game that is difficult to compete with SMDBKL-PHJ-MSNJ. Four minutes before the end of the first half, SMKDBL was once again shocked by the second goal of BJSS Thunderbolts this time through a field goal by Muhammad Farishshah Fauzian in the 26th minute. Trailing 2-0, SMKDBL-PHJ-MSNJ tried to bounce back and managed to close the gap after the national youth player, Alfarico Lance Liau Jr completed the advantage of a penalty corner shot in the 51st minute.
SMKDBL-PHJ-MSNJ continued to put pressure but BJSS Thunderbolts used all their strength to defend and occasionally counter-attacked to ensure the 2-1 position remained until the end of the match.BJSS Thunderbolts coach S. Prakash said the players made many mistakes but were thankful for still being able to realize their target as league champions and advance to the finals.
“This is a satisfying achievement and tomorrow, we consider our team as an underdog because of the reputation of SSTMI Thunderbolts who have won the championship many times.”Anyway, I believe in the ability of the players and I consider tomorrow’s meeting against SSTMI Thunderbolts to be 50-50.” he said.
Team captain Wan Muhammad Najmie Ahmad Dzaib thinks the meeting with SSTMI Thunderbolts tomorrow is very exciting, especially since they made it to the finals after being stranded in the quarterfinals in the last edition.”We are not afraid even though almost half of the SSTMI Thunderbolts team consists of national youth players. I am confident in the high team spirit of my friends, ”he said.Meanwhile, SSTMI Thunderbolts have the opportunity to challenge for the TNB Cup title for this year and defend the title as the champion of the last edition after beating the Pahang squad, AHP-SSP-MSP Thunderbolts 2-0.However, SSTMI Thunderbolts had to wait until the last 10 minutes before being able to score the AHP-SSP-MSP Thunderbolts goal when Muhammad Hazree Alief Rosli scored a field goal in the 50th minute.
The goal of the national youth team captain, Mohamad Akhimullah Anuar Esook in the 54th minute completed the 2-0 SSTMI Thunderbolts victory to secure a ticket to the final tomorrow.
SSTMI Thunderbolts coach, Zaidi Zainuddin was relieved with the performance of his men even though it was a bit slow to score a goal. “I instructed the players to be patient and not to rush in the search for goals, finally we got two goals after half time after increasing the tempo of the game,” he said.
Against the BJSS Thunderbolts, he said, the SSTMI Thunderbolts remain respectful of the young team and are wary of the BJSS Thunderbolts ’fast -paced game pattern.
“We will plan a strategy, especially after losing in previous league competitions and on the fact that they are strong in terms of penalty corners,” he said.
SSTMI Thunderbolts captain Saiful Sharil Saiful Bahri said he and his teammates would go down with a mission to avenge the defeat at the hands of the BJSS Thunderbolts in the previous league competition. “We will refocus, review the video and be determined to take revenge .”
