TENAGA Nasional shot themselves in the foot when they were held to a 4-4 draw by Nur Insafi in the Premier Division of the Malaysia Hockey League in Ipoh yesterday.
Tenaga won the first leg 5-2, but were trailing 4-1 to Nur Insafi before the come-back fire was ignited.
Amir Farid made it count for Tenaga in the seventh minute, but Nur Insafi powered ahead with goals from Wassem Ahmed (12th), Hairy Ramli (15th), Nur Hrsikesa Thaitchana (21st) and Harris Fadila (23rd).
However, Tenaga came back from the dead with a fight-back started by Izad Hakimi in the 28th minute and two more goals in the second half by Amin Rahim (42nd) and Firhan Ashaari (50th) saw them share the spoils.
Nur Insafi wrote a protest letter after almost staging a walk-out late in the match, because they were unhappy with the umpiring in general.
"The MHL Technical Committee will meet on Sunday to decide if the protest by Nur Insafi has merit or not," said tournament director V. Rajamanickam.
But the third draw for Tenaga opened up the league title as Sapura and UniKL also ended up sharing points on a 2-2 score.
UniKL took a 2-0 lead off Haziq Samsul (fourth) and Noor Faeez Ibrahim (15th), but Sapura caught up in the second half with goals from Azreen Rizal (45th) and Muhammad Imran (67th).
In another match, Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) went back to the top when they beat Maybank 6-1. KLHC were lucky that the other two matches yesterday ended up in a draw, as their League title defense was in jeorpady after last weekend's defeat to Tenaga and draw with Sapura.
Yesterday, the KLHC goals were scored by Shahrun Nabil (eighth, Nabil Fiqri (15th) and Azlan Misron (22nd), Chua Boon Huat (58th), Razie Rahim (63rd), Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin (67th),
Hairul Nizam scored for Maybank in the 48th minute.
"We are back at the top and will aim to keep in that way in our remaining matches. Last weekend is history, and behind us. Our sights are now firmly fixed on retaining the League title and then going for the double," said KLHC coach K. Dharmaraj.
PREMIER DIVISION
P W D L F A Pts
KLHC 7 5 1 1 32 8 16
TNB 7 4 3 0 20 14 15
Sapura 7 3 2 2 15 13 11
Maybank 7 2 2 3 15 20 8
UniKL 7 1 1 5 13 21 4
Nur Insafi-MBI 7 1 1 5 12 31 4
DIVISION ONE
P W D L F A Pts
BJSS 4 3 0 1 17 12 9
Forces 4 2 2 0 6 3 8
T’bolt 4 2 1 1 7 5 7
Johor HA 4 2 0 2 11 11 6
Uniten 4 1 1 2 8 10 4
UiTM 3 1 0 2 2 6 3
Politeknik 3 0 0 3 6 10 0
RESULTS: Premier Division -- Nur Insafi-MBI 4 TNB 4, UniKL 2 Sapura 2, Maybank 1 KL Hockey Club 6.
TODAY: Division One -- Politeknik KPT v Thunderbolt (Taman Daya, 6pm), Armed Forces v BJSS (National Stadium, 5pm), Johor HA v UiTM (Taman Daya, 8pm).