A brace of penalty corner conversions by Mohd Kamaruzaman Kamaruddin steered Johor to a 4-0 victory over Kuala Lumpur in Group A of the men's 60th TNB Tun Abdul Razak Cup at the National Hockey Stadium today.
The victory revived Johor's hopes in the tournament after suffering a 2-0 defeat to defending champions Perak on the opening day on Thursday.
Johor got off to a bright start, with Muhammad Syafiq Mohd Sani giving them the early lead they sought with a second minute field goal.
Mohd Kamaruzaman showcased his setpiece prowess from penalty corners in the seventh and 42nd minutes before Muhammad Faris Ros Fadilah completed the rout with a field goal in the 59th minute.
Meanwhile, Muhamad Nazrey Din scored a hattrick as Armed Forces revived some hope of survival with a 5-3 victory over Negeri Sembilan in the other Group A match today.
Nazrey opened the scoring for the military men with an 18th minute field goal, which was followed by Muhammad Ikhwan Ishak in the 35th minute.
Armed Forces started the second half on the front foot as Muhammad Irfan Haiqal made it 3-0 with a field goal in the 38th minute, before Negeri Sembilan pulled one back through Raja Haikal Danish Raja Azmi Yazir in the 44th minute.
Nazrey reestablished Armed Forces' three goal cushion when he made it 4-1 in the 50th minute, but Negri Sembilan replied right from the restart through Muhammad Noor Syahmi Noor Azmi, before Nazrey completed his hattrick in the 52nd minute. Negri Sembilan then reduced the deficit to make it 5-3 through Muhammad Harizh Iman Chairil Anwar in the 53rd minute.
Melaka romped to the top of Group B with another goal fest, this time subjecting Singapore to an 8-0 mauling to maintain their 100 percent record with 16 goals scored and just one conceded, having earlier beaten Penang 3-1 and Selangor 5-0.
Muhammad Nur Asyraf Ishak was the star of the show with four goals from penalty corners in the 30th, 32nd, 36th and 44th minutes.
Melaka's other goals came through Muhammad Muhibuddin Moharam in the first minute, Muhammad Amirul Aiman Ariffin in the 52nd minute, Akmal Azaman in the 53rd minute and captain Amirullah Zainol in the 57th minute.
In another Group B match, Perlis beat Police 2-1 with goals from Muhammad Ariff Aiman Md Junid in the 10th minute and Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin Tengku Abdul Jalil in the 33rd minute, while Police's solitary goal was scored by Baljit Singh Sarjab through a penalty corner in the 39th minute.
In the final Group B match of the day, Penang registered a hard-earned 2-1 victory over Selangor with goals from Eswaran George in the 39th minute and a Jiwa Mohan penalty stroke in the 56th minute after Muhammad Zul Fitri Md Zin had given Selangor the lead in through a penalty corner in the 15th minute.
The men's competition has a break tomorrow before in resumes on Monday with Negri Sembilan taking on Kuala Lumpur, while Johor look to build momentum against Terengganu in Group A.
Group B sees Penang play Police, Singapore play Pahang, while Melaka look to have one foot in the semi-finals when they take on Perlis.
Results (Men)
Group A: Kuala Lumpur 0 Johor 4, Armed Forces 5 Negri Sembilan 3;
Group B: Melaka 8 Singapore 0, Police 1 Perlis 2, Selangor 1 Penang 2.
