KUALA Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) beat Sapura 5-1 to lift the TNB-Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) Premier Division title at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil last night.
The unbeaten champions received RM60,000, while Sapura pocketed RM40,000 and third-placed Tenaga Nasional received RM30,000.
And double champions KLHC will have two 'rest days' in the Quarter-finals as they will play Division One champions SSTMI-Thunderbolt and the score should reach double-digit.
Sapura and will play seventh-place Nur Insafi.
"We have achieved two of our targets (Charity Shield and League title) and going into the Overall battle, my players will keep the same tempo and there will be no mercy against the Division One champions.
"We are dead serious about the knock-out stages, and will field our best even when playing against weaker sides," warned KLHC team manager George Koshy.
Yesterday, KLHC got their goals off Fitri Saari (27th), Razie Rahim (41st), Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin (45th), Ismail Abu (61st)and Amerullah Aziz (65th).
Sapura's consolation was scored by skipper S. Kuhan in the 57th minute.
Maybank ended fourth in the League when they beat Nur Insafi 7-4 in a highly entertaining match.
The Tigers were 3-0 up in the first 10 minutes off Zulhairi Hashim (second), Azrul Effendy (eighth) and Amirullah Zainol (ninth).
Nur Insafi pulled a goal back through Damandeep Singh in the 14th minute but Maybank restored their three goal advantage when Mohammad Syafiq Zain scored in the 24th minute.
Nur Insafi managed to score two more goals before the halftime break off Nur Hrsikesa (27th) and Damandeep (33rd) for a halftime score of 4-3 in favour of the bankers.
But the Tigers woke up from their slumber and a penalty corner conversion by Zulhairi in the 39th minute extended their lead to 5-3 before Hairul Nizam (45th) and Hafifihafiz Hanafi (46th) handed the win to Maybank.
Nur Insafi scored in the 54th minute through Damandeep to make the final score 7-4.
FINAL STANDINGS
PREMIER DIVISION
P W D L F A Pts
KLHC 8 8 0 0 45 12 24
Sapura 8 6 0 2 25 14 18
TNB 8 5 1 2 26 8 16
Maybank 8 4 1 3 23 16 13
UniKL 8 2 4 2 19 22 10
YNS 8 3 1 4 12 21 10
Nur Insafi 8 2 1 5 18 33 7
UiTM 8 0 3 5 7 27 3
Airod 8 0 1 7 11 33 1
Division One
P W D L F A Pts
T’bolt 8 4 4 0 22 17 16
Uniten 8 3 3 2 16 16 12
Ipoh CH 8 3 3 2 16 19 12
BJSS 8 2 3 3 19 13 9
UNIMAP 8 1 1 6 13 21 4
RESULTS: Premier Division: YNS 0 UiTM 0, Maybank 7 Nur Insafi 4, UniKL 4 Armed Forces Airod 2, KL Hockey Club 5 Sapura 1.
Division One: Ipoh City Hall 2 UniTen 3, UNIMAP 2 BJSS 5.
WEDNESDAY -- Quarter-finals (first leg): KL Hockey Club v SSTMI-Thunderbolt (KLHA Stadium, 6pm), UniKL v Maybank (National Stadium Pitch II, 4pm), Sapura v Nur Insafi (National Stadium Pitch II, 6pm), Tenaga Nasional v Yayasan NS (National Stadium Pitch II, 8pm)
FRIDAY (second leg): SSTMI-Thunderbolt v KL Hockey Club (KLHA Stadium, 6pm).
SATURDAY (second leg): Nur Insafi v Sapura (National Stadium Pitch 1, 6pm), Yayasan NS v Tenaga Nasional (National Stadium Pitch II, 6pm), Maybank v UniKL (National Stadium Pitch II, 8pm).