SAPURA beat UiTM 5-2 to move level with TNB-Malaysia Hockey League favourites Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC), but still trail by six goals.
And interestingly both the leaders, square on 15 points, will meet in the final League match on Oct 9.
Yesterday, Sapura took the lead in the 12th minute off Marhan Jali and doubled their advantage three minutes later when Noor Khairul Azraain scored.
Azreen Rizal made it 3-0 in the 37th minute before goals from Jiwa Mohan (39th) and S. Kuhan (52nd) made it 5-0.
However UiTM fought back by scoring two goals in the closing stages of the match through Sheraz Ali (62nd) and Ahmad Amirul Alias (67th).
In another Premier Division match, UniKL played to their fourth draw when they held Nur Insafi to a 3-3 draw.
Having drawn three earlier matches, against Uitm, Tenaga Nasional and Maybank, their fourth draw has placed them in a good position to make it to the knock out stage.
Nur Insafi took the lead in the 31st minute off Damandeep Singh but UniKL drew level in the 35th minute through a penalty corner goal by Izad Hakimi.
Prem Kumar put Nur Insafi 2-1 ahead in the 41st minute but Ramadhan Rosli equalised in the next minute.
And in the 45th minute Nur Hrsikesa gave Nur Insafi a 3-2 lead but it lasted for a few seconds as Noor Faeez Ibrahim put his team on level terms again.
"We played well to lead 5-0, but then complacency crept in and we let in two goals which brought down our goalcount. Now we have to plan for a very tough match, as we meet Tenaga Nasional next (Wednesday)," said Sapura coach I. Vickneswaran.
Then it is YNS and followed by KLHC to complete their fixtutes.
RESULTS -- Premier League: Sapura 5 UiTM 2, UniKL 3 Nur Insafi Penang 3, YNS 2 Maybank 1, TNB 5 Armed Forces Airod 0.
Division One: Ipoh City Hall 3 UNIMAP 1, SSTMI-Thunderbolt 3 BJSS 3.
Premier Division
P W D L F A Pts
KL HC 5 5 0 0 29 8 15
Sapura 5 5 0 0 21 6 15
TNB 6 4 1 1 23 6 13
UniKL 6 1 4 1 14 14 7
Nur Insafi 6 2 1 3 12 21 7
YNS 5 2 0 3 7 17 6
Maybank 5 1 1 3 9 11 4
UiTM 5 0 1 4 6 21 1
Airod 5 0 0 5 7 24 0
Division One
P W D L F A Pts
T’bolt 6 3 3 0 18 14 12
Ipoh CH 6 3 2 1 12 14 11
BJSS 6 1 3 2 13 9 6
UNIMAP 5 1 1 3 8 10 4
Uniten 5 0 3 2 7 11 3
As MHF Secretary, I would like to reiterate my and MHF position that I/we did not communicate nor provided any of the facts as stated in The STAR newspaper today - http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2011/10/2/sports/9617781&sec=sports
At this stage of the matter, I would not or could not provide any statements because the athletes concerned had sought for the Sample B to be tested to reconfirm the results and in which could lead to prejudice to the matter.
Any statement released by MHF must be fair and not be bias or damaging towards the club concerned and players involved.
MHF will make the official announcement of the matter after fulfilling the procedures in accordance to the ADAMAS and MHF/FIH Anti Doping Regulations undertaken by teams and officials for the TNBMHL2011.
Should there be any official release/statement to the press, we will communicate via the Media Officer of the event as we have done for all the releases.
Maninderjit Singh
Secretary
Malaysian Hockey Federation
