Maybank returned to winning streak after defeating Matador Hockey Club 5-3 in the TNB Malaysia Hockey League (TNB MHL) 2025 at the National Hockey Stadium, Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur on Friday (January 17).
The 5-3 victory certainly came as a surprise to a side that had struggled to keep pace against Terengganu Hockey Team (THT) and underdogs Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) before bowing to 1-2 and 3-1 defeats respectively.
Maybank went 3-1 ahead within a space of five minutes. Muhammad Razie Abd Rahim, who is in his prime age at 38, converted a penalty corner (20th) to give Maybank a head start, and Muhammad IzhamAzhar extended it to 2-0 (21st) from a field goal. But Muhammad Sufyan Khan reduced the deficit for Matador with a penalty corner goal (24th) before Syafiq Ikhmal Daniel scored a field goal in the 25th minute to take his side to a 3-1 ahead.
Matador, who had pummeled Nurinsafi Sporting 8-1, came back after the interval with Sufyan’s second strike from a penalty corner to reduce the deficit to 2-3. Maybank captain Najmi Farizal Jazlan extended their lead to 4-2, and Pakistan’s international Abdul Waheed converted a penalty corner (52nd) to take Matador closer to 3-4 but Razie Maybank’s sealed victory for Maybank with the fifth goal from similar fashion.
Not taking away any credit from Maybank who gave a good performance, generally the match was evenly contested.
“Against UiTM we were attacking most of the time but could not find the net. Today, the players showed a lot of improvement and scored five goals. We will take a break as most of our players will be away in Europe for the Indoor Hockey World Cup,” said Maybank coach Iman Gobinathan.”
With this victory, Maybank moved up to second spot in the table standings with 12 points – three behind THT, and TNB are in third spot (6 points), while Matador, UiTM-HA, Armed Forces, TNB Thunderbolts, and Nurinsafi share three equal points.
Maybank played its last TNBMHL match today and will return to action on February 13. Nine of their players, together with a few from THT and Tenaga Nasional Berhad, will join the national indoor team for a series of friendly matches in Austria before competing in the FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup in Porec, Croatia from Feb 3-9. The squad leaves for Austria on Sunday (Jan 19).
In another match, Nurinsafi Sporting defeated China’s Liaoning 2-1 at the Bertam Hockey Stadium. Nur Rahull Hrsikessa Thaitchana Muruthi fired his side 1-0 ahead with a field goal (21st) and Indian national Jasnit Singh extended it to 2-0 (26th) from a penalty corner.
Liaoning’s consolation goal came through Yang Peng (58th) from a penalty corner.
