MHL : Rajan losing sleep over National Juniors’ porous defence

National Juniors coach K. Rajan is having sleepless night worrying about his team’s porous defence.

The Juniors, who finished rock bottom in the six-team Division One, scored 15 goals but leaked in a whopping 38 goals in 10 matches.

And Rajan is worried about how they will cope against defending overall champions Tenaga Nasional in the quarter-finals of the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) next week.

Tenaga finished third in Division One behind League champions Ernst and Young and Sapura.

The first-leg of the quarter-final match will be played at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Friday and the return-leg at the Kuala Lumpur Hockey Stadium two days later.

The National Juniors are competing in the MHL as part of their preparation for the Junior World Cup, which Malaysia will co-host with Singapore from June 7-21.

Rajan admitted that his defenders had been a huge let down in the League.

“They have let in soft goals. There is still a lack of understanding among the defenders,” he said.

“I am still trying to get the right combination of defenders for the Junior World Cup.”

The defenders are Ahmad Kazamirul Nasaruddin, Mohd Sybrie Shamsudin, Kavin Kartik, Mohd Noor Khairul Azrain, Mohd Nor Hafiq Abdul Gaffar and Mohd Sabri Mohd.