Maybank's Juan Valeriano (with ball) in action against KLHC in the TNBMHL 2016 Premier League match at the KLHA Stadium in Jalan Pantai today. KHLC won 7-2.
SAPURA Hockey Club edged Tenaga Nasional 2-1 to hold on to the Premier Division lead in the Malaysia Hockey League.
In another match, Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) hammered Maybank 7-2 to keep pace.
Terengganu Hockey Team (THT) beat UniKL 2-1 but Fazial Shaari marred the win when he was flashed the red card for calling umpire Nor Azhar 'bodoh' (stupid).
Both the teams square off on Friday, in a match that could decide the which team has the stamina to lay their hands on the League title.
"The score does not matter as what we need to do is keep winning the three points to place the pressure on leaders Sapura. It is not was to hold onto a lead, and we hope to have a better time than today (yesterday) when we play Sapura on Friday," said KLHC coach Harun Rashid.
KLHC do not have a mid-week match as they are out of the Tan Sri P. Alagendra Cup knock-out tournament, while Sapura will meet SSTMI on Tuesday.
"We have a good rest before playing Sapura, and hopefully, it will help us to overtake them on Friday," said Rashid.
Sapura coach Yahya Atan also felt the Friday encounter would chart his team's fortunes.
"First we travel to Bandar Penawar to play SSTMI in the Alagendra Cup semi-finals, and after that we meet Sapura on Friday in the MHL. Both the matches are crucial for us as we aim to play in the final of the Cup, and also keep out lead in the MHL," said Yahya.
RESULTS: Premier Division -- Kuala Lumpur HC 7 Maybank 2, UniKL 1 Terengganu 2, Sapura 2 Tenaga 1.
ALAGENDRA CUP Semi-finals: Sept 6: Tenaga Nasional v Terengganu HT (KLHA,6pm), SSTMI v Sapura (SSTMI, 6pm).
PREMIER DIVISION
P W D L F A Pts
SAPURA 6 5 0 1 13 8 15
KLHC 6 4 2 0 21 9 14
THT 6 3 1 2 15 11 10
MAYBANK 6 2 0 4 11 22 6
UNIKL 6 1 1 4 5 11 4
TENAGA 6 0 2 4 11 15 2
