Saturday, November 19, 2011

PENANG WIN AS SINGAPORE AND PERAK HELD

Holding on to leads plagued teams in the opening day matches of the 5th Raja Noora Ashikin Cup held at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil today.

For Perak and Singapore learnt the hard way that a two goal lead in modern day hockey is not sufficient to assure them wins.

Perak had a 2-0 lead in their Group A match against Johor only to drop points in the final minute of the match.

And it was the same script for Singapore who led Selangor 2-0 only to be held to a 2-2 draw in their Group C clash.

In contrast Penang defeated SMK Puteri of Seremban 3-1 in a Group B match.

Perak opened scoring in the third minute through Nor Hidayah Ahmad Bokhari. And they doubled their advantage in the 7th minute through a goal from Khairunajwa Khairuddin. But Johor reduced the deficit in the very next minute when skipper Nur Amirah converted a penalty corner.

The pendulum swung in favour of the southerners when Perak's Amirah Waklif Ramlee was sent to the sin bin in the 67th minute. Johor made full use of their numerical advantage to net the equalizer through Hanis Nadiah Onn in the 69th minute.

Singapore went 2-0 ahead thanks to goals from Ming Fen O (7th minute) and Xinni Chua (47th minute).

However Selangor fought back and scored their first goal in the 51st minute through Ellya Shahirah.

And Ella was on target two minutes from time, this time through a penalty corner to share the points.

Penang were the early aggressors and led 1-0 in the 8th minute via Nur Amalina Ishak. However SMK Puteri were on level terms thanks to a Nurashikin Hazme strike in the 38th minute.

But Penang were not to be denied as goals from Nur Izwana Ahmad Tajuddin (52nd minute) and Nor Shahida Sakira (66th minute) gave them an opening match win.