Tenaga by a whisker

TENAGA Nasional snatched the TNB Cup from the jaws of Ernst & Young after a tensed penalty shootout at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday.


After regulation time ended 1-1 and the deadlock failed to be broken in the 15 minutes of extra time, even the penalty shootout had to enter go to sudden-death before Tenaga ended the tense affair 7-6.

Tenaga, who finished third in the League, surprised the crowd when they took the early lead through S. Selvaraju who scored from close range in the 28th minute.

But E & Y stepped up the tempo, applied the pressure and were finally rewarded when Zulkifli Rejab scored off a penalty corner in the 63rd minute to take the match into extra time.

Goalkeeper S. Kumar was Tenaga’s hero of the day, while E & Y relied on former national keeper Roslan Jamaluddin.

For Tenaga, S. Selvaraju, Sallehin Ghani, Tajol Rosli and Kelvinder Singh scored in the first five, while Amin Rahim missed.

And for E & Y, the first five flickers were Megat Azrafiq who missed, while Sukri Mutalib, Suffian Mohamed, Baljit Singh and Razie Rahim scored.

In sudden-death, Selvaraju was on target again, while Sukri equalised for E & Y, then Amin scored while Baljit equalsied for E & Y.

But in the third sudden-death, Tajol scored but Sufian’s flick was saved by Kumar, much to the relief of the Tenaga bench and their supporters.

LEAGUE: Champions: Ernst & Young (RM60,000); Second: Sapura (RM40,000); Third: Tenaga Nasional (RM30,000); Fourth: Maybank (RM20,000).

OVERALL: Champions: Tenaga Nasional (RM17,500); Runners-Up: Ernst & Young (RM17,500). Note: Prize money shared as match went into penalties).

ROLL-OF-HONOUR: Best Player of Tournament: Engku Malek (Maybank); Best Player of Final: S. Kumar (Tenaga); Top Scorer: Jiwa Mohan (Sapura, 23 goals); Best Goalkeeper: Khairulnizam Ibrahim (Ernst & Young); Fair Play: Bukit Jalil Sports School.