UniKL won the TNB Malaysia Hockey League (Premier) 2021 championship for the third time in a row when they beat Maybank 1-0 in the last match of the league at the Bukit Jalil National Hockey Stadium, thus approaching the target of winning the treble this season.
The country’s experienced striker, Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin Tengku Abdul Jalil emerged as the hero of UniKL after the defending champion was tied until the third quarter without any goal by Maybank which clearly gave a great competition.
The stylish UniKL completes the League campaign of the 2021 season by maintaining an unbeaten record and a total of 19 points overall.
After attacking each other, Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin finally brought joy to the UniKL camp when he managed to complete a push from close range in a chaotic situation in front of Maybank’s goal in the 49th minute.
Despite being rewarded with five penalty corners, UniKL failed to break through Maybank’s defence which clearly played well in the first three quarters and continued to restrain attack after attack from their opponents.
After the success of lifting the Contribution Cup and the League, UniKL’s target to record a treble looks bright when it will continue the challenge to the semi-finals of the TNB Cup which takes place on a reciprocal basis starting this Sunday. UniKL, as the champion was voted to meet the team that ranked fourth.
The excellence of Megat Azrafiq Megat Termizi’s coaching squad is sweetened by the success of UniKL Ladies who also lifted the TNB Malaysia Hockey League (Women) Cup in their appearance.
THT 4 TNB 1
The former Terengganu Hockey Team (THT) champion had to abide by the status as runner-up after completing the League campaign with a 4-1 victory over TNB.
National striker Faizal Saari presented a bit of joy for THT when he scored a hat -trick to navigate THT’s victory. Faizal also emerged as the League’s top scorer with a total of 14 goals from a total of seven matches.
The failure to repeat the last success achieved in 2018 will be painful to swallow, let alone when their fate had to be decided by UniKL which had previously confirmed the championship when it recorded a narrow 1-0 victory over Maybank.
THT surprised TNB with an early goal by Akhimullah Anuar Esook in the sixth minute before Faizal widened the gap before the end of the first half through a field goal in the 28th minute.
Faizal once again ensured THT’s absolute victory when he scored two more goals which was also a hat-trick through the 39th and 58th minutes before Muhammad Muhibudin Moharam closed the gap for TNB in the 51st minute.
UITM HA 3 SABAH 2
UITM HA maintained its 5th position overall after beating Sabah 3-2 in the last match of the League, thus repeating the same position as last season.
Mohd Nor Akmal Ghaffar’s squad had to concede a ticket to the semi -finals of the TNB Cup and had to re -arrange plans to return with a stronger squad next season.
After going goalless in the first quarter, UITM striker HA found the touch in the second quarter through Nor Nashriq Farhan Nor Amin’s penalty corner in the 16th minute.
Two goals in the third quarter through Danial Asyraf Abdul Ghani (31st minute) and Muhammad Hafiizhuddin Zaidi in the 49th minute ensured victory and UITM’s position remained until the end of the match even though Sabah tried to bounce back through two goals from Baljit Singh in the 49th and 56th minutes. .
TNB Thunderbolts 2 Nurinsafi HT/Sports 0
The young TNB Thunderbolts ended the campaign with a victory over Nurinsafi HT/Sports which was the second victory in the League and ended the 2021 season in 6th place overall.
Two goals, each in the first and second half by Muhammad Faris Harisan in the seventh minute and Muhammad Syahir Hasif Harun (47th minute) ensured six points overall for the TNB Thunderbolts.
Nurinsafi HT had to come to the bottom of the league after losing all the matches this season.
FULL RESULT:
TNB CUP MATCH SCHEDULE
Sunday, March 28, 2021
- UniKL VS TNB (8 mlm) NHS 1
- THT VS Maybank (8 mlm) NHS 2
