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Kuala Lumpur: It was a case of men versus boys as the Terengganu Hockey Team (THT) ran riot to hammer Sabah 11-0 in their opening Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) match at Pitch 2 of the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil here, Thursday.

Hotshot Faizal Shaari, who had only just recovered from Covid-19, struck four goals (fourth, 40th, 41st and 55th minutes) to help his team to victory as the MHL began under the sports bubble concept minus the fans.

THT’s other goals were scored by Sabah-born Shello Silverius (ninth, 29th); Mohamad Akhimullah Anuar Esook (28th, 45th); Muhammad Arif Syafie Ishak (34th); Muhammad Sufi Ismat (51st); and Nukman Hakim Mohammad (57th).

Although THT coach K. Rajan admitted to being surprised by the huge win, he was, however, far from impressed, saying: “I am not very happy with their first-half performance despite the 4-0 lead.

“I also noticed that Sabah parked the bus from the 25th minute of the game. Luckily we managed to capitalise on our chances through continuous attacks, which left the Sabah players huffing and puffing,” he said at the online post-match press conference.

Rajan knows that their next game will not be a walk in the park as they will be up against defending champions Universiti Kuala Lumpur on Sunday and he has warned his men to raise their game. Earlier, UiTM HA strolled to a 3-0 win over Nurinsafi HT at Pitch 1 of the same venue, courtesy of two penalty corner goals in the first half by Nor Azrul Abd Rahman (28th) and Muhamad Rashid Baharom (33rd) before Danial Asyraf Abdul Ghani completed the rout with a field goal in the 46th minute.

In another match at Pitch 1 tonight, Maybank also got off to a roaring start when they trounced TNB Thunderbolts 5-0, with a brace each from Hafifi Hafiz Hanafi (sixth, 52nd) and Amirullah Zainol (25th, 58th) before Muhammad Syamim Naim Abd Hamid made it a high five a minute before the end.

Meanwhile, a Bernama survey found that Thursday’s matches, which were held under the sports bubble concept, went smoothly as the reserves, coaches as well as media practitioners adopted physical distancing and wore faces masks throughout the duration of the games.

The hosting of the MHL, which will end on April 3, has thrown a unique challenge to the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) as this is the first time that the league is being held under the bubble or centralised method with strict compliance of the standard operating procedure (SOP) in a bid to curb the spread of Covid-19.