THT COMPLETE 'DOUBLE DOUBLE'

Terengganu Hockey Team (THT) did the double for the second season running after winning the TNB Cup by defeating Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) 5-4 via penalty shootouts during the final played at the Bukit Jalil National Hockey Stadium last night.

Both teams were deadlocked at the end of regulation time after Faizal Saari had scored from a penalty corner for THT but two minutes later Razie Rahim levelled things up, also from a penalty corner routine.

KLHC goalkeeper, Roslan Jamaluddin played a blinder to deny more goals for THT and during the shootouts he continued to be a pivotal figure as he denied the Terengganu side from scoring easily.

However it was his counterpart, Mohamad Hafizuddin who became the hero after he denied Mohamad Syamim from scoring in the sudden death phase and THT added the cup to the Premier League title they won earlier, repeating the feat they did last year.

Apart from the RM70 thousand prize money, THT also won the Fairplay award and Faizal emerged as the tournament topscorer while his brother, Fitri was named as Player of the Tournament.

Roslan was named as the Goalkeeper of the Tournament for his displays throughout the 2015 TNB-MHL season.

TURTLES HELD IN MALAYSIA CUP OPENER

Terengganu did not get the good start they were wishing for last night when they were held to a goalless draw by JDT II at the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Shah Stadium.

Missing the suspended Issey Nakajima the home side struggled to get past JDT II defence marshalled by Baihakki Kaizan and well supported by Mohamad Afiq.

Norshahrul Idlan Talaha was given the responsibility to lead the Terengganu attack with support coming from Ashari Samsuddin and Ismail Faruqi.

As usual, Gustavo Lopez was the centre of most Terengganu attacking moves but the packed away defence saw most of his passes failed to really open up the JDT II rearguard.

Fakhrurazi Musa, Norshahrul, Ashari and Lopez all saw their efforts on JDT II goal missing the target. In fact, the home side did not win a single corner kick in the first half while Nenad Bacina's boys managed to squeeze a few from their counter-attacks.

The second half saw the introductions of Sharin Sapien and Hafizal Mohamad for Fakhrurazi and Helmi Remeli respectively.

However it did not change the complexion of the match with Terengganu continue failing to really trouble the visitors' defence with their wayward shooting.

Sharbinee Allawee had to be on his best to deny two good shots by JDT II players from going past him and then had the fortune smiling on him when Shahril Ishak shot went past the wrong side of the post.

In stoppage time, the home fans thought they would be seeing the goal they have been waiting for when referee, Zulkifli Ahmad awarded Terengganu a penalty after Ahmad Nordin Alias was brought down in the penalty area.

It was The Turtles first penalty since May when Paolo Rangel won and converted a penalty during their FA Cup semi final, second leg match against the Lions XII.

With Rangel missing from the line-up due to his suspension when his aggressive behaviour against the match officials during that match, Lopez stepped up to the plate.

The Argentine chose precision over power. His effort was going in until JDT II goalkeeper, Zulfadhli managed to get his hand on it, pushing the ball against the post.

It then rolled agonisingly on the line before it was eventually cleared by a JDT II defender and the final whistle was blown immediately leaving more than 13 thousand home fans with a dejected feeling.

However Group A is still very much open as Fandi Ahmad also failed to get his Lions XII to win all three points at the Jalan Besar Stadium against Premier League champions, Kedah.

The Canaries took the lead with a screamer from Sandro Mendonca in the 15th minute but the home side levelled the score two minutes later through Shahdan Sulaiman.

Group B action had begun on Friday with JDT defeating Perak 2-0 at the Hassan Yunos Stadium with goals from Safee Sali and Chanturu Suppiah in the first half sealing the points for the Southern Tigers.

Last night a stoppage time goal by Joseph Kalang Tie gave Sarawak all three points against the Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) at the State Stadium in Kuching.

In Group C, Felda United brushed aside T-Team 3-0 at the Selayang Municipal Council Stadium with Ndumba Makeche's brace sandwiching Indra Putra Mahyuddin penalty.

However the form book was reversed at the Shah Alam Stadium when Kelantan registered a 3-0 win over Selangor.

Gilmar headed The Stags in front in the 26th minute. Four minutes into the second half, Augustine Iwuji increased the lead before Gilmar helping himself to his second after a scramble in front of the Selangor goal.

Meanwhile in Kuantan, Dickson Nwakaeme was the toast of the town when he came off the bench to score the winner for the defending champions against the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM).

A hattrick by Azammuddin Akil gave The Elephants a healthy 3-1 lead at the interval with Dramane Trade replying for the visitors.

However The Cops scored twice through brilliant freekicks by Ali Ashfaq and Jamie Braganca to level the score.

It looked like to have spoil the home side plan until Pahang head coach, Zainal Abidin Hassan decided to unleash Nwakaeme for the last ten minutes and it paid off handsomely.

At the Bandaraya Stadium, home side Penang never recovered from two quick goals by PKNS FC. Nazrin Syamsulbahri broke the deadlock in the 17th minute and a minute later Gabriel Guerra made it 2-0.

Nizam Abu Bakar scored the visitor's third nine minutes into the second half to leave The Panthers in tatters.

2015 MALAYSIA CUP DRAW

The draw for the 2015 Malaysia Cup group stage was carried out this afternoon at a hotel in Petaling Jaya and it has thrown a few interesting match ups between the qualified teams.

Group A

Terengganu is the seeded team here and they will have the FA Cup winners, Lions XII in the group as well as Premier League champions, Kedah. The team formerly known as Johor FA, JDT II complete the line-up.

The east coast side has met the Lions four times this season with two home victories registered over Fandi Ahmad boys and The Turtles snatching a point in the league at Jalan Besar.

The Lions XII only win over Terengganu was in the first leg of the FA Cup when they won 2-1. An extra motivating factor Ahmad Yusof boys is the fact that it was the Lions XII who knocked them out of the FA Cup on away goals' rule.

The Lions did make a trip to Kedah en route to their FA Cup victory with a 4-0 win over FAM League side, Kedah United in the second round.

They also saw off the challenge from JDT II in the quarter-final of the competition, winning both legs 2-0 for a comfortable 4-0 aggregate win.

Kedah meanwhile are the in form team right now, having chased and caught up with Terengganu clubside, T-Team Titans on their way to the second tier title.

With just three defeats in twenty five matches in all competitions this season, Tan Cheng Hoe will definitely feel confident his players can match their Super League counterparts.

However one of those defeats came at the hands of JDT II who shocked them with a 1-0 win at the Darul Aman Stadium in Alor Setar in the FA Cup.

Inconsistencies saw JDT II promotion push falter in the later stage of the season with three defeats and a draw in their last six matches saw them eventually finishing in fifth place, fourteen points adrift of champions, Kedah.

GROUP B

Super League champions, Johor Darul Takzim (JDT) are expected to stroll into the quarter-finals from the looks of things here.

Despite an all Super League teams making up the group, Perak and Sarawak finished in the bottom half of the table while the Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) found themselves relegated to the Premier League.

The only thing that could help the trios are JDT's AFC Cup commitments which could end soon if they failed to get the required result in Hong Kong against South China FC.

Thus it will the race for the second spot from this group and the three of them seem to have equal chance of accompanying JDT to the knock-out phase.

One interesting point in this group however, is the on-going feud between JDT and Perak fans with the last incident happening after The Bos Gaurus 2-0 defeat to The Southern Tigers in Johor Bahru.

On their way back, the Perak supporters alleged they were attacked by JDT supporters who threw objects at their buses causing damages and injuries to some.

In the past, there have been a few incidents between the two sets of supporters that saw the intervention of the Police and one could expect them to happen again in the Malaysia Cup.

GROUP C

Selangor will continue with their Mission-33 this season and they look good in getting into the knock-out phase with either Felda United or Kelantan accompanying them.

However, that will depend on Mehmet Durakovic getting his tactics right against the wily Irfan Bakti who pushed The Red Giants all the way in during their two matches this season.

Felda United meanwhile will continue relying on Irfan's man-management skills to motivate his players to get the required results and with the experience of old horses like Indraputra Mahyuddin and Shukor Adan around they could edge it over Kelantan for a place in the last eight.

Kelantan are a shadow of their former self but they still possess enough quality in their squad to reverse the form book.

Players like Khairul Fahmi Che Mat, Badhri Radzi, Norfarhan Mohamad, Wan Zack Haikal, Wan Zaharulnizam and Fakri Saarani could deliver the goods on their day.

T-Team Titans are not expected to play other part than as spoilers in this group.

After losing influential figures like David Oniya who passed away in a friendly, ironically against Kelantan; and their topscorer, Farhod Tadjiev to a long term injury, The Titans simply fell apart.

They only managed to register three wins in their last ten matches and after leading the Premier League table found themselves pipped to the two promotion spots on the last day of the league season after losing to Kuantan FA in a must win battle.

GROUP D

This is a group where Pahang should reign supreme over the inconsistent Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) and Premier League sides, Penang and PKNS FC.

The Elephants did the double over PDRM winning comfortably 5-3 in Shah Alam before registering a 1-0 win in Kuantan.

They also knocked out The Panthers in the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 2-0 win in the first leg seeing them through after Penang held them to a 2-2 draw in the second at The Bandaraya Stadium.

Thus it will be interesting to see who will get the second spot to the knock-out stage between PDRM, Penang and PKNS FC.

The last two meetings between PDRM and Penang were in the 2014 season when The Cops did the double over their opponent on their way to the Premier League title.

The most recent meetings between PDRM and PKNS FC happened in the 2011 season when the latter won both matches.

PKNS FC meanhile pushed Penang for promotion in this season Premier League campaign but dropping points against the likes of DRB Hicom and Sabah eventually saw their challenge faltered.

NAKAJIMA LATE STRIKE SEALS WIN FOR TURTLES

Issey Nakajima was the toast of Terengganu last night when his strike eight minutes from time sealed all three points for Terengganu against a physical Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) side.

Both teams were equal on points before kick-off but the home side started brightly with Nakajima testing PDRM goalkeeper, Badrulzaman Abdul Halim early on.

There were early chances too for defenders Helmi Remeli and Vincent Bikana from deadball situations but both of them failed to find the target.

PDRM players, with former Negeri Sembilan striker turned fullback, Shahurain Abu Samah in particular resorted to physical tactics in order to stop the Terengganu attacks at all cost.

It cost Terengganu their forward, Norshahrul Idlan Talaha who had to be substituted in the 25th minute after a heavy challenge he received from Shahurain early on with Fakhrurazi Musa taking his place.

Terengganu continued to create chances but their players could not hit the target or when they did, found Badrulzaman to be in good form.

After another foul, the referee Wan Mohamad Tarmizi Wan Ibrahim finally flashed the yellow card to Shahurain and his teammate, Mohamad Azrul followed suit a while later together with Bikana for fighting.

Then as the match about to reach the interval another heavy lunge by Shahurain, this time on Ismail Faruqi was deemed legal by Wan Mohamad Tarmizi who waved play on despite the protest by Terengganu players.

The first half theme continued in the second with Terengganu players failing to convert the chances they created.

One player who was really keen to show his stuff was Jaime Braganca who was almost a Terengganu player before The Turtles opted to sign Nakajima instead as the replacement for the injured Hassan Chaito.

Shahurain meanwhile continued to receive 'protection' from Wan Mohamad Tarmizi who should should have flashed a second yellow card to the player on at least two separate occasions.

Instead Wan Tarmizi seemed to be happier in showing the yellow apparatus to Terengganu players with Ismail Faruqi, Fakhrurazi, Helmi Remeli, Gustavo Lopez and Nakajima finding their names in the referee's book for petty fouls.

This did not go down well with the seven thousand plus crowd who started booing the referee and his officials who also seemed to be more lenient towards the visitors who continued to escape with more over the top tackles.

However, justice seemed to be done when Ashari Samsuddin played a one-two with Nakajima and dribbled the ball to the byline before cutting it back into the penalty area finding the Canadian international whose shot gave Badrulzaman no chance at all.

The stadium erupted with joy and relief and Terengganu held on for the rest of the match to win all three points and moved into fourth place.

TITANS HELD BY NS MATRIX AT HOME

T-Team Titans failed to utilise Kedah's stalemate with Penang as they too were held NS Matrix at home last night.

A win for Tomislav Steinbruckner's side would have seen them retaking the top spot of the Premier League from The Canaries.

After a dour first half which saw both sides failing to create any clear cut chance, the match picked up a bit of pace in the second but it was the visitors that opened the scoring.

Former Terengganu striker, Francis Doe took full advantage after the home side failed to clear the ball properly from a free-kick. He received the ball just inside the box and flicked it over former team-mate, Mazuki Yusof before unleashing a low shot past The Titans goalkeeper, Wan Muhammad Azraie.

The lead however lasted only for seven minutes when Sadriddin Abdulaev found Mohamad Nor Hakim inside the box with a pass. The forward then made a short pass to substitute, Muhamad Zulhanizam who turned and made an attempt at the visitor's goal.

It was not a strong shot but it was enough to wrongfoot NS Matrix goalkeeper, Helmi Eliza. The 1-1 score remained until the final whistle despite Josip Milardovic hitting the bar from a free-kick towards the end of the match.

TITANS NEED ALL THREE POINTS TONIGHT

T-Team Titans could return to the summit of the Premier League if they win their encounter with Negeri Sembilan tonight and Kedah fail to win their Northern derby against Penang.

The Titans head coach, Tomislav Steinbruckner is hoping for his team to get back on the winning track after three matches without a win and there is no better time than tonight against the inconsistent Negeri Sembilan.

Without their injured topscorer; Farhod Tadjiev, T-Team are putting their hopes on new signing Tomislav Busic who had opened his goal account with a penalty against JDT II on Friday.

The tall Croatian looked good in the air but he could struggle to get past pacy defenders, thus the plan should be to get good delivery into the box where Busic could do more damage.

A stalemate in the Northern derby would be beneficial to The Titans but they have to do their part of the bargain by getting all the three points.

Two other promotion chasers, PKNS FC and JDT II will square off against one another at the Hang Jebat Stadium while Sabah could get back on a winning track by winning at Kuantan FA.

THT LOST TO KLHC IN CHARITY SHIELD OPENER

Terengganu Hockey Team (THT) lost in their opening match to the 2015 TNB-MHL Premier League season to their arch rivals, Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club.

The match which also served as the curtain raiser Charity Shield was played at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur.

THT took the lead in the 15th minute when Jose Leandro Tolini scored from a penalty corner but the lead did not last long with KLHC hit back through a penalty corner of their own, converted by Pakistani Ali Shan in the 19th minute.

It did not end there as they converted two successive penalty corners in the 20th and 21st minute through Nabil Fiqri and Razie Rahim respectively.

Two field goals by Muhammad Rashid Baharom in the 33rd and 49th minute made the score 5-1 to the home side before Ismail Abu pulled one back in the 52nd minute.

However there was enough time for another KLHC strike when Harvinder Singh scored another field goal in the 58th minute to make the final score 6-2 in favour of KLHC.

The win gave Dharmaraj Abdullah boys three points with a healthy goal difference but for for THT head coach, Sarjit Singh it would be back to the drawing board before their next match against Maybank on Friday at the same venue.