KUALA Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) came back from a near-death experience, twice, to hold Sapura to a 4-4 draw in the Premier Division of the Malaysia Hockey League at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday.
Sapura took a 2-0 lead, but KLHC drew level, only to see Sapura take a 4-2 lead before nailing the two goals to steal a point in the final quarter.
However, the title chase is still between KLHC and Terengganu Hockey Team -- in a winner-takes-all on Sept 4 at the Batu Buruk Stadium in Kuala Terengganu.
Yesterday, THT beat Maybank 3-2 in Batu Buruk to set up the mouth-watering season finale.
Dangerous Lee finally bloomed for Sapura with goals in the eighth and 28th, while the other goals were scored by Faridzul Afiq (12th) and Norsyafiq Sumantri (38th).
As for KLHC, the scorers were Syamim Yusof (13th), Harvinder Singh (15th), Nabil Fiqri (53rd) and Ali Shan (57th).
The match was delayed by faulty lights, as well a thunderstorm, when Sapura were leading 4-2. In Round One, KLHC were also held to a 3-3 draw by Sapura.
"We played catch-up in most of the match but after the rain delay, we removed the sweepers post and went on an all out attack. It could have back-fired, but my players gave their best and drew the match," said KLHC coach K. Dharmaraj.
On their final league match on Sept 4: "We beat THT 6-2 in the Charity Shield, but that can't be use to gauge their strength. We need to play our best game of the season, because if my players enter with a complacent attitude, THT are capable of thrashing is 6-2 as well."
Sapura coach Tai Beng Hai, peeved with several incidents in the match, refused to attend the press conference.
RESULTS: Premier Division -- Sapura 4 KLHC 4, Terengganu 3 Maybank 2, UniKL 3 Tenaga 4.
Division One: Group A: MSP-YP-SSP 3 BJSS 2, MBI 4 MSNT-THT 2; Group B: UiTM 4 UniKL Young Guns 1, Nur Insafi 3 SSTMI 1, ATM Airod 3 Politeknik 0.