Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) head coach Nor Saiful Zaini is frustrated at the performance of his players against defending champions Terengganu Hockey Team (THT) in the 2024 Malaysian Hockey League at the National Hockey Stadium on Wednesday night, despite winning the Charity Shild last night.
He felt the team didn’t show they were playing for something important – the Charity Shield – the first of three trophies that TNB had targeted this season.
In the 2023 MHL, the east coast outfit won the Charity Shield, Premier League, and TNB Cup (overall champions).
Following a cautious start off the blocks by both teams last night, TNB went on to defeat THT 3-1 in penalty shootout following a 2-2 draw in regulation time.
“It was a good start for us by winning the Charity Shield but I am not happy with our performance. We had many chances to score goals. We also had four penalty corner opportunities in a row and yet we fumbled,” said Nor Saiful.
“It is never a good thing to settle with a single point for the League. I can only expect this team to win in all our remaining matches as there are three teams – TNB, THT and Maybank who are strong contenders for the league title,” he added.
Expressing his disappointment further, the coach said “I don’t know why most of the national players in the team failed to perform, especially in scoring goals. Their level of performance took a sudden drop. This is not the way TNB plays.”
“THT players are also familiar with South Korean Jang Jong-Hyun’s style of taking drag-flick push and this is one element, I believe, why they could stop him in penalty corner conversations. We will have to rise in our next game against Young Elephants Pahang on Friday and score many goals.”
TNB have amassed five points from two draws and a win, and is in third spot in the table standings, while Nurinsafi Sporting lead the table with nine points followed by TNB Thunderbolt (6 points).
Meanwhile, THT’s Fitri Saari was proud of the performance his side had displayed.
“This is our first match and we drew. The good point is we picked one point and stayed safe. TNB is a very strong side with almost 12 national players. Jang is a dominant force in TNB but we played well in defence to stop him from scoring,” he said.
“Our next match is against China’s Liaoning team. I expect a good match and we need to win three points here.
