Shers scrape past Warriors

Win in sudden death; Hi-Fliers bounce back from two-goal deficit to beat Dynamos 3-2

CHANDIGARH: Sher-e-Jallandhar halted the victory march of Maratha Warriors defeating them 5-4 in the sudden death and garnered two points in the Premier Hockey League.

After the teams were tied 1-1 in regulation time, the extra-time of 10 minutes for silver goal failed to decide the winner. Even in the tie-breaker, only two players from each team were successful.

In sudden death, Gurvinder Chandi converted the first chance for Shers while Shivender was successful for the Warriors. In the next try, Sarvanjit Singh found the target for the Shers.

But Shivender failed for Warriors with Shers' custodian Salman Akbar saving his first shot and then forcing him to shoot wide in his second attempt.

Former champions Bangalore Hi-Fliers made a strong comeback after trailing 0-2 to score a thrilling 3-2 win over Chandigarh Dynamos in another match.

After surviving early blitz by Bangalore, Chandigarh Dynamos struck twice in the space of three minutes with drag flicker Sandeep Singh netting two stunning goals from penalty corner in the 10th and 12th minutes respectively.

In the 23rd minute, Bangalore pulled one back with Sandeep Michael earning the team’s second short corner. Chandigarh goalkeeper Baljit Singh blocked Len Aiyappa’s low drag flick but Bangalore’s Korean import You Hyo-sik converted the rebound.

Bangalore opened up the game in the third quarter and despite an element of risk involved, they went all out on attack and stretched the Chandigarh defence. Bimal Lakra was outstanding in the mid-field and got good support from Vikramkanth and Vinay as they completely dominated the midfield feeding the forwards well. The Bangalore team also made the best use of the speed and skills of their Korean player, You Hyo-sik, who was the livewire of the team with his speedy runs.
Bangalore scored the equaliser in the 37th minute capitalising on a quick move on the right flank. From the midfield, Vinay put Arjun Hallappa in possession of the ball , who gave it to Michael.

He then darted into the middle, cut into the circle and gave a short pass to Tushar Khandekar on the right. When custodian Baljit Singh was drawn forward Tushar gave it to Hyo-sik and the latter made no mistake tapping the ball into the right corner of the boards.

Bangalore continued to exert the pressure on the Chandigarh goal and forced their fourth and last short corner in the 67th minute to seal the fate of the match. Tushar took the push and Vikramkanth set it up for drag flicker Len Aiyappa. But Len’s low flick was once again blocked by Chandigarh goalie Baljit Singh and this time Cheyanna, the junior Indian camper, slotted home to earn the match-winner for Bangalore Hi-Fliers.

Bangalore’s You Hyo-sik was declared man of the match. After three matches each, Bangalore have five points while Chandigarh Dynamos remain on six points.