INSTANT-DICT and Golden, pretenders to Eastern's league crown, fought out a 1-1 draw at Mongkok Stadium last night.
Instant's Scottish striker Graham Harvey equalised in the 55th minute, but the sixth-placed team might have taken all the points had their English midfielder Steve Berry converted a penalty midway through the first half.
Golden's towering central defender Marlon Van der Sander made a clumsy tackle on Harvey inside the box, but Berry's spot kick was saved by 'keeper Chan Hing-wing.
Three minutes earlier, Golden striker Alen Bajkusa opened the scoring from a free kick after he was brought down by Instant defender Leung Shing-kit just outside the box.
Golden, who retained their place as joint leaders with Eastern, had prepared hard for the match with tours of Malaysia and China in the past fortnight.
The loss of Scottish striker Eddie Gallagher in the 30th minute caused concern on the Instant bench, but substitute Sean Edwards proved an able replacement.
