MHL : Dharmaraj wants E&Y to nail the elusive overall title

Ernst and Young coach K. Dharmaraj (pic) is not jumping for joy even though his team bagged two titles in three days.



They won the third Asian Champion Clubs (ACC) tournament last Sunday and will represent Asia in the inaugural World Clubs championship in Barcelona in January.

And three days later in the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL), they took an unassailable lead with three matches to spare to retain the Division One title. It was the third consecutive time that they are the champions.

Dharmaraj, who has been coaching the team since 2000, said that he would really happy only when the team claim the MHL overall title for the first time.

“We have played in six finals and lost on all occasions. We have to break this jinx,” he said.

Ernst and Young first final was in 2001 and they also made it for five consecutive years from 2003.

Dharmaraj added that they were unlucky to lose the last two finals on penalty strokes to Sapura and Tenaga Nasional.

“We have a solid team this year and winning the overall title will be the ultimate goal for us,’’ he said.

Dharmaraj, who has in his team 17 players from the national training squad, said that he would give his reserves more chances to play in the remaining three matches against the National Juniors today, Tenaga Nasional on Sunday and Maybank on Wednesday.

“I want them to be on par with the first-choice players for the knockout stage, starting on Dec 5,’’ he said.

Forward Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin, meanwhile, will have to serve a one-match suspension for collecting his second yellow card in the match against Sapura, which Ernst and Young won 2-0 to seal the Division One title on Wednesday.

He picked his first yellow card in the match against Nur Insafi on Nov 9 in Penang.

Dharmaraj said that midfielder Mohd Sukri Abdul Mutalib, who miss the ACC tournament last week because of his Universiti Putra Malaysia examinations, would return to action today.