Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: Defending champions Kuala Lumpur and the National Juniors were given a scare before reaching the final of the 42nd Razak Cup at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil here yesterday.

KL had to wait until the 51st minute to open the scoring in their 3-0 win over minnows Malacca. In the other semi-final, the Juniors only managed to beat Perak 1-0 after extra time.

It will be the fourth final meeting in five years between the Juniors and KL. For KL, they will be gunning for their eighth straight title and 16th in total. The Juniors have only won the title once, back in 1979. The Juniors were beaten by KL in the 2000, 2001 and 2003 finals.

Yesterday, Malacca put up a defensive wall and KL had trouble penetrating through in their search for goals. To add to KL’s woes, they were disorganised and their passes were easily intercepted.

In the first half, KL had five penalty corners but failed to tuck them away. It was only in the sixth penalty corner in the 51st minute that they managed to break the deadlock. National player Tajol Rosli was the hero, deflecting a pass by Nor Saiful Zaini past goalkeeper Hanafi Hassan.

Five minutes later, Azlan Misron put KL two-up and Tajol was again on target in the 58th minute to complete the win.

Said Malacca coach S. Vellapan: “We actually had KL by the throat in the first half. Still I’m proud of the players as they did not give in and made a fight out of it.”

The Juniors will have to buck up if they hope to beat KL in the final.

Perak did not have any star players but managed to take the fight to the Juniors with their good teamwork.

Goalkeeper Mohamed Fitri was the hero for Perak, making numerous saves to deny the Juniors in regulation time. The match went into extra time and was heading for a penalty shootout when the Juniors gained a penalty corner in the 85th minute.

Mohamed Shukri Mutalib took the hit and it rebounded off Fitri’s pads and went into the net to give the Juniors a place in the final.

Said Juniors coach Tai Beng Hai: “Our finishing is a problem. We dominated the match and had many chances to score. The players will have to work harder tomorrow (today).”

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