Karnatak miss sitters as Mumbai make merry

Mumbai Marines scored a narrow win over struggling Karnataka Lions 2-1 on Thursday at KSHA Stadium, Bangalore.

For Mumbai Marines, goals were scored by Devinder Walmiki (42nd min) and Joga Singh (58th) whereas Lehn Aiyappa scored (18th) for the Karnataka Lions.

Going into the match against a decent victory over Chandigarh Comets in their previous game, Karnataka Lions wasted most chances they got throughout the game.

Karnataka’s forwards would have topped ‘misses’ list if it ever were one.

Dhanraj Pillay almost missed four clear chances, three of them from close range. Arjun Antil, Jarnail Singh, Ravi Pal Singh too emulated him in good measure!

The only respite in the game for the Lions was the goal scored by Lehn Aiyappa off a penalty corner in the 18th minute taking them 1-0 in the game. He too failed in his attempt in the next two penalty corners.

The lead was maintained as Mumbai Marines also didn’t put up a great show at the other end.

Towards the end of the second quarter, Bimal Lakra missed a chance when he received a short pass from Troy Sutherland in the Lions’ circle.

In the 42nd minute, Devinder Walmiki scored the equalizer for the Marines through his high flick off a penalty corner.

Few minutes after, Marines wasted a chance to score off a penalty corner when they misdirected the grounded hit which went miles away from the post.

In the 58th minute, Lehn Aiyappa’s sloppy defence eventually cost the Lions. Joga Singh struck a spectacular solo beating tentative Lehn from the left side of the circle, to the right of goalie Devesh Chauhan.

The Lions defence’s fragility was reflected from the fact that a side-line hit for the Lions in their own quarter was stolen away by the Mumbai Marines and Lions had a close shave on what followed.

In the 66th minute, the Lions, looking out for a desperate equalizer, came very close to scoring but a vigilant Ajmer Singh, standing on the goal line, cleared the ball just in time.

A few run down in the flanks by Jarnail Singh and Arjun Antil were not enough as they met a decent defence line of Mumbai.

The agility of Mumbai Marine’s goalkeeper Adrian D’Souza comes in for praise today. But for his good work under the bar, the score-line would have been tennis like for the Karnataka Lions.

Interestingly, Mumbai Marines notched up top slot in the points table with 9 points from sixth!