YNS Coach K. Rajan happy for moving into the knockout stage of the Malaysian Hockey League
Despite Yayasan Negri Sembilan (YNS) having no chances to win the title in the Premier Division of the Malaysian Hockey League (MHL), the team is quite happy about reaching the knockout stage after attaining the fourth position among the top seven squads.
The YNS are due to play dual matches. However, they will still remain at the fourth-place in the nine-team league even if they win the two fixtures.
It is vital to mention here that seven out of nine teams will move into the TNB Cup (MHL Knockout Round).
The YNS Coach, while speaking to the journalists, said, “We play Sapura tomorrow (Friday) and then our last match on Sunday is against UiTM. We have nine points, and even if we win both, we will only have 15 points and lose out the third spot to Sapura (now
on 15 points) on goal difference.”
However, he termed the fourth place as a blessing saying that they would meet the fifth-place squad in the knockout stage. It is expected that the fifth place will be grabbed either by University Kuala Lumpur (UniKL), Maybank or Nur Insafi.
In case the YNS win the quarter-finals, they will face defending champions Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) in the semi finals which will not be an easy task. Previously, the KLHC had clobbered the YNS line-up by 8-0 in the Premier Division match.
Premier Division’s leading squad, KLCH, will face either of the Division One Champions – Thunderbolt or Ipoh City – in the quarter-finals.
The YNS has six Pakistani players who were facing fitness issues in the initial stages of the event. The trainer stated, “The six arrived four days after Hari Raya and there were no tournaments to keep them on their toes. They were not fit then, but after
playing a few matches, I can see that the foreign players are ready to contribute in the knock-out stages.”
Presently, KLHC will play against Nur Insafi and Sapura. The match against Sapura will be worth watching, as only Sapura is capable of knocking down the unbeaten KLHC.
The KLHC will clinch the Premier Division title regardless of losing the match against Sapura. However, they will have to win the game against Nur Insafi.
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