KUALA Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) were made to sweat before beating Nur Insafi 5-2 to virtually claim their TNB-Malaysia Hockey League title at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday.
Double champions KLHC only have one match against Sapura tomorrow, and can even afford to lose by seven goals but will still be crowned as League champions.
Against Nur Insafi, KLHC opened scoring in the 10th minute through Ismail Abu and they doubled the score in the 22nd minute off Amerullah Aziz. Ismail scored his second a minute later to give KLHC a comfortable lead into the breather.
But Nur Insafi scored two goals in quick succession when Nur Hrsikesa Thaichana scored off a penalty corner in the 38th minute and a minute later Damandeep Singh made it 3-2.
However KLHC hit back with goals from Razie Rahim (40th) and Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin (42nd) stretched their unbeaten run to seven matches.
"It was a very slow start but a good finish from my players today. I think it was due to the energy sapping match we played against Tenaga (losing 2-0 on Wednesday).
"However, my players only have one more day to rest before we play our big match against KLHC (Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club)," said Sapura coach I. Vickneswaran.
Yesterday, YNS and Sapura played to a dull first half, and the action only started in the last 20 minutes of the match.
Sapura took the lead in the 42nd minute off Marhan Jali. But YNS found the equaliser in the 58th minute through a penalty corner converted by Pakistan import Ihsan Ullah Khan.
But YNS fell asleep for two minutes from the 64th and S. Kuhan scored from off penalty corner while Jiwa Mohan sealed the match with a close attempt.
In another Premier Division Match, Maybank beat Tenaga 2-1 to move two rungs up to fourth on the standings.
P W D L F A Pts
KLHC 7 7 0 0 40 11 21
Sapura 7 6 0 1 24 9 18
TNB 8 5 1 2 26 8 16
Maybank 7 3 1 3 16 12 10
YNS 7 3 0 4 12 21 9
UniKL 7 1 4 2 15 20 7
Nur Insafi 7 2 1 4 14 26 7
UiTM 7 0 2 5 7 27 2
Airod 7 0 1 6 9 29 1
Division One
P W D L F A Pts
T’bolt 8 4 4 0 22 17 16
Ipoh CH 7 3 3 1 14 16 12
Uniten 7 2 3 2 13 14 9
BJSS 7 1 3 3 14 11 6
UNIMAP 7 1 1 5 11 16 4
RESULTS -- Premier Divisiosn: YNS 1 Sapura 3, Nur Insafi 2 KL Hockey Club 5, Maybank 2 TNB 1, UiTM 1 Armed Forces Airod 1.
Division 1 - Uniten 2 BJSS 1, UNIMAP 1 SSTMI-Thunderbolt 2.
SUNDAY: Premier Division: YNS v UiTM (Pitch II, 4pm), Maybank v Nur Insafi (Pitch 1, 5pm), UniKL v Armed Forces Airod (Pitch II, 6pm), KL Hockey Club v Sapura (Pitch II, 8pm).
All matches at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
Division 1 Ipoh City Hall v UniTen (Azlan Shah, 5pm), UNIMAP v BJSS (Alor Star, 5pm).