Olak (orange) and Nur Insafi players tussle for the ball in a goalmouth action.
OLAK-PKT took a giant step toward making the quarterfinal of the Milo Cup in the Junior Hockey League (MJHL) when they defeated Nur Insafi 4-1 in a playoff match at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
They need a draw against Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) to assure themselves of a place and from the way they demolished Nur Insafi, that should not be a problem.
“It was a good performance and the early goals helped the team settle down. We made the chances count and that made the difference today,” said Olak-PKT manager Joseph de Silva.
“We hope to win tomorrow as that will assure us of a place in Sunday’s final and BJSS will not be an easy proposition.
“I’m proud of my players as they played to instructions and the result is due to planning by the coaches who got the tactics right.”
Olak took the lead in the 11th minute through V. Dilip who was set up perfectly by Marwadi Hamirin.
That gave them the confidence to move forward and three minutes later Olak doubled their advantage.
With Nur Insafi not able to get their act together, it was only a matter of time that Olak scored their third and that duly occurred in the 24th minute with Marwadi finding the mark, for his 11th goal in the tournament.
Marwadi was on target again in the 40th minute to make it 4-0 and Olak were sailing comfortably.
The match threatened to blow into a free-for-all in the 42nd minute as Olak’s Maxhanis Christi and Nur Insafi’s Mohd Zaim Hanif Nasaruddin almost came to blows with the other players lining up against each other. The duo were sent to the sin bin.
Nur Insafi scored a consolation through Abdul Muhaimin Abdul Aziz via a penalty corner in the 59th minute.
Tomorrow’s fixtures:
Olak -PKT v BJSS (5pm, National Stadium II)
Bakat MSSK v Politeknik-KPM (7pm, National Stadium II)
