03 Sep Hafifi Hafiz, Waqas steer Maybank Out of Trouble

Hafifi Hafiz Hanafi and Muhammad Waqas scored two goals each as Maybank ploughed through a 4-4 draw against Universiti Kuala Lumpur in the TNBMHL 2015 Premier Division match at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil today.

With the final round of the Premier Division concluding this Friday and the eventual champions to be decided in Kuala Terengganu between heavyweights Terengganu Hockey Team and Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club, the encounter between Maybank-UniKL today was of no significance to their title hopes.

The draw did not do any good to either team as Maybank are already ‘comfortably locked’ in the fifth position with four points and UniKL continue to rock at the bottom of the table standings with just a single point to show having lost in all eight earlier matches.

UniKL took to the field without head coach Arul Selvaraj who was hours earlier served with a three-match suspension by the Technical Committee of the Malaysian Hockey Confederation for misconduct after the August 30 match against Tenaga Nasional Berhad.

Joining Arul in the dock were UniKL player S. Selvaraju, Sapura team manager Louis Gregory and coach Tai Beng Hai. All three were, however, served with a one-match suspension.

The Technical Committee was headed by Dato’ G. Vijayanathan, who is also the Tournament Director of the TNB Malaysian Hockey League.

With Arul up in the terrace, UniKL produced a remarkable opening act to go one-up through Manraj Singh with a 14th minute field goal and Richard Sykes added the second in the 21st minute off a penalty corner.

Maybank pulled one back through Muhammad Waqas just one minute before the end of the second quarter but Mohamad Haziq Samsul increased UniKL’s domination three minutes later from a field goal.

But the match went Maybank’s way after this as Hafifi Hafiz knocked two quick goals (32nd and 33rd) to draw level at 3-3 before Pakistan’s Waqas gave Maybank a 4-3 lead for the first time with a 42nd minute field goal.

UniKL were, however, far from finished and had the final say through Izwan Firdaus who packed a powerful shot past Pakistan’s national team goalkeeper Imran but force this draw.