Friday April 23, 2010
Worst season yet for ex-champs MBPJ
KUALA LUMPUR: Former champions Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) are going through one of their worst seasons in the MHF-Milo-NSC Malaysian Junior Hockey League (MJHL).
MBPJ, who won the overall title in 2006, have lost all their three matches in Division One thus far and they are at the bottom of table, having conceded 12 goals and scoring just three.
MBPJ were beaten 0-2 by Anderson in the opening match before crashing to a 2-6 defeat by Bandar Penawar Sports School (BPSS)-Thunderbolt and a 1-4 loss to debutants UniKL.
MBPJ have five matches more to play and they need to start winning if they harbour hopes of qualifying for the knockout stage.
Top five teams in Division One and top three from Division Two will feature in the knockout stage.
MBPJ assistant team manager Zanal Abidin Ismail said that their path to make it to the knockout stage appeared to be a rather difficult one.
“Based on the team performances in the first three matches, I doubt that we can win the remaining five,” he said.
“This will probably be our worst season since we made our debut in the MJHL in 1996. Losing the services of coach Paul Raj is one of the reasons for us having a weak team.”
MBPJ will play against Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) Juniors at the Tun Razak Stadium today and they will be up against BPSS Juniors at the same venue on Sunday. If they lose both matches, they will be out of contention for a place in the knockout stage.
