As expected, KL Hockey Club and Sapura made it through to the final, though in contrasting styles in the second leg of the Malaysian Hockey League semis played at Tun Razak Stadium yesterday evening.
An exciting finals is on the cards as KLHC are out to nail their first overall title as KLHC while Sapura will be out to prove that experience counts and their players are not over the hill as yet.
But one player that will be with divided loyalty is S. Shanker who played for Sapura last year and is now donning KLHC colours.
More of the finals later as we analyse the exit of TNB and YNS.
The exit of Tenaga Nasional Berhad, though it may come as a surprise to many, was to be expected as soon as they lost the services of defender cum penalty corner specialists Mohd Amin Abdul Rahim.
In his place was young upstart, Faisal Saari, who failed to deliver despite TNB being awarde seven penalty corners and a penalty stroke in the match.
What is baffling is why TNB opted not to use one of its set-pieces when they were awarded the penalty corners, especially when they were left chasing the game after Rehan Butt scored in the second half.
And why was the task of taking the penalty stroke not given to an experienced player in the likes of Mahinder Singh, Tajol Rosli MOhammad or even M. Kaliswaran as a cool head was needed at that crucial stage.
It was a poor stroke by any standards and although Davids James Kettle saved the attempt, any keeper would have as the stroke lacked power and was direct.
So in reality TNB have themselves to blame for the exit as they had so many chances to kill off the semis, especially in the first leg where they led 2-0 only to draw 2-2.
The turning point of this semis was the save on the goal line in the first leg when TNB led 2-0 and that third goal would have killed off the game as well as semis.
For YNS, their decision to play open hockey in the opening minutes was the key factor as they were punished as early as the second minute. And it was obvious by having too many cooks in the kitchen, in this case the coaching, was proof that all's not well in YNS.
An exciting finals is on the cards as KLHC are out to nail their first overall title as KLHC while Sapura will be out to prove that experience counts and their players are not over the hill as yet.
But one player that will be with divided loyalty is S. Shanker who played for Sapura last year and is now donning KLHC colours.
More of the finals later as we analyse the exit of TNB and YNS.
The exit of Tenaga Nasional Berhad, though it may come as a surprise to many, was to be expected as soon as they lost the services of defender cum penalty corner specialists Mohd Amin Abdul Rahim.
In his place was young upstart, Faisal Saari, who failed to deliver despite TNB being awarde seven penalty corners and a penalty stroke in the match.
What is baffling is why TNB opted not to use one of its set-pieces when they were awarded the penalty corners, especially when they were left chasing the game after Rehan Butt scored in the second half.
And why was the task of taking the penalty stroke not given to an experienced player in the likes of Mahinder Singh, Tajol Rosli MOhammad or even M. Kaliswaran as a cool head was needed at that crucial stage.
It was a poor stroke by any standards and although Davids James Kettle saved the attempt, any keeper would have as the stroke lacked power and was direct.
So in reality TNB have themselves to blame for the exit as they had so many chances to kill off the semis, especially in the first leg where they led 2-0 only to draw 2-2.
The turning point of this semis was the save on the goal line in the first leg when TNB led 2-0 and that third goal would have killed off the game as well as semis.
For YNS, their decision to play open hockey in the opening minutes was the key factor as they were punished as early as the second minute. And it was obvious by having too many cooks in the kitchen, in this case the coaching, was proof that all's not well in YNS.
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