Terengganu Hockey Team and Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club advanced to Sunday’s TNB Cup 2017 final.
Defending champions THT, who won the title for the first time in 2013 and triumphed in the next two editions, defeated University Kuala Lumpur 4-0 in the second-leg semifinals at the Tun Razak Stadium today to book a spot in the final on an 8-4 aggregate.
Both teams rolled out a 4-4 draw in the first-leg encounter on Wednesday.
Dutchman Valentin Verga opened scoring in the seventh minute via a field goal and Azlan Misron doubled the lead eight minutes later whilst Muhammad Firhan Ashaari made it 3-0 at the interval before Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin netted the fourth in the 35th minute.
Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club subdued Tenaga Nasional Berhad 2-1 in penalty shootout to reach their seventh TNB Cup final since 2008.
After taking a one-goal lead going into today’s second-leg semi-finals encounter, KLHC fell behind to a 12th minute penalty corner goal by Shazril Irwan Nazli but drag-flick specialist Mohd Razie Abdul Rahim restored the calm in KLHC camp via a penalty corner in the 37th minute.
In a fast pace match that got fans from both sides excited, it was TNB that went on to dominate with a second goal, coming through Muhammad Azammi Adabi who converted a penalty stroke four minutes before the end of the third quarter.
The goal was all TNB needed to draw level 2-2 on aggregate after going down 0-1 in the first-leg semi-final on Wednesday and in the process forced this tie into a penalty shootout.
However, TNB’s hopes of qualifying for Sunday’s final and emulating their 2007 success was dashed after four players failed get past goalkeeper Roslan Jamaluddin in the shootout. Except for Norsyafiq Sumantri who did well to put the ball past Roslan, it was a painful night for Nik Muhammad Aiman, Muhammad Shahril Saabah, Azammi and Faiz Helmi Jali who failed in their mission.
On the opposite end, Muhammad Syamim Mohd Yusof and Meor Muhammad Azuan were successful in taking KLHC to their seventh TNB Cup final since the 2006 inaugural Cup.
KLHC head coach, Harun Al Rashid Samri, said: “This entire season our matches against TNB have been very tough. Everyone pits us as favorites to win today as we have foreign players in the squad but let’s not forget that TNB are 100 percent local outfit who are experienced and very fit.
“As for me Roslan played his best game today and was instrumental in our victory over TNB in both legs of the semi-finals. He had carried us through to the final in the shootout.”
Results – Semi-finals Second-Leg: Tenaga Nasional Berhad 2 Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club 1 (Aggregate 2-2; KLHC won 2-1 in penalty shootout); University Kuala Lumpur 0 Terengganu Hockey Team 4 (THT won 8-4 on aggregate.
FINAL (Sunday, 26 February, 2017): Terengganu Hockey Team v Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (Stadium Tun Razak, 8.30pm).
