Out-of-favour national forward Wayne Legerton came to the rescue of his Petrotrin team-mates when he netted with two minutes left on the clock to earn his team a 2-2 draw with Queen's Park in the T&T Hockey Board Men's Championships Division at the National Hockey Centre, Tacarigua on Sunday night.
The Oilmen entered the match as winners of their first five matches for maximum 15 points, two more than Defence Force and Paragon and were favoured to get past the Parkites, joint fourth on nine points with Notre Dame.
However, the Parkites who are chasing a top four first round finish to secure a "Big-Four" qualification spot was first to get on the score-sheet via Shawn Lee Quay in the 15th minute.
With the minutes ticking away it seemed as though the Parkites would be able to hang onto the narrow lead while inflicting Petrotrin's first loss of the season, but it was not to be as Legerton beat goalkeeper Reiza Hosein in the 68th minute from a penalty-corner set play to earn his team a share of the points.
The point earned carried Petrotrin to 16 from six matches, while Defence Force and Paragon are next with 13 followed by Queen's Park with ten and Notre Dame, a further point behind in fifth.
On Saturday, Tariq Maracon twice handed Maracon the lead in a 2-2 draw with Corona Fatima for its first point of the season after six matches.
Marcano fired Malvern ahead in the 22nd minute but Jordan Vieira replied for Fatima in the 45th, only for Marcano to get his second on the hour-mark, followed by Colin Young's equaliser for Fatima in the 67th.
In the Women's Championship Division, Harvard Maritime Checkers missed a chance to close the gap to two points after a 2-2 draw with Shandy Carib Magnolias on Sunday.
Magnolias, who entered the match in fourth spot with six points from three matches took a third minute lead through a penalty-corner conversion from Mika Ella Tang, but that was undone by Savannah De Freitas' 18th own-goal to level the match at 1-1.
Both teams continue on their all-out attack in search of the go-ahead item which eventually came for Magnolias a minute before the half thanks to Kelli O'Brien, but ten minutes after the re-start Kwylan Jaggessar drew Checkers level again to split the points.
With the drawn result, Checkers joined Paragon in second spot with eight points, four behind defending champions, Notre Dame while Magnolias is next with seven, one more than Malvern, 3-1 come-from-behind winners of Ventures on Saturday.
Ventures, losers of their previous four matches took a surprise lead in the 13th minute via Jenny Thompson but national forward Oire Trotman cooled the nerves of her Malvern team-mates with a quick brace, in the 31st and 32nd minute for a 2-1 half-time advantage while former national captain, Sherlan Cabralis sealed the win in the 40th.
In the Trinity Men's Division, teenagers, Teague Marcano scored twice and Jacques Poon-Lewis the other for Malvern in its 3-1 whipping of Defence Force to regain sole possession of top spot with maximum 18 points, three more than Queen's Park while Paradise is next with 13 and Notre Dame, fourth with 12.
However, in the Trinity Women's competition, Paragon blanked Malvern 2-0 with second-half goals from Shanice Cudjoe and Gabrielle Thompson.
T&THB results
Saturday:
Men's Championship:
Malvern 2 (Tariq Marcano 22nd, 60th) vs Fatima 2 (Jordan Vieira 45th, Colin Young 67th)
Women's Championship:
Malvern 3 (Oire Trotman 31st, 32nd, Sherlan Cabralis 40th) vs Ventures 1 (Jenny Thompson 13th)
Mixed Veterans:
Police 3 vs Paragon 0 - by default
Sunday:
Trinity Men:
Malvern 3 (Teague Marcano 51st, 68th pen, Jacques Poon-Lewis 42nd) vs Defence Force 1 (Neil Clarke 48th)
Trinity Women:
Paragon 2 (Shanice Cudjoe 48th, Gabrielle Thompson 57th) vs Malvern 0
Men's Championship:
Queen's Park 1 (Shawn Lee Quay 15th) vs Petrotrin 1 (Wayne Legerton 68th)
Women's Championship:
Magnolias 2 (Mika Ella Tang 3rd, Kelli O'Brien 34th) vs Checkers 2 (own goal 18th, Kwylan Jaggessar 45th)
