The Tribune: Talwinder’s late strike scripts Delhi win

Talwinder Singh struck a field goal in the dying moments of the game to lead Delhi Waveriders to a thrilling 4-3 victory over Dabang Mumbai in a Hockey India League contest here today.

The visitors were trailing 2-3 with three minutes left in the fourth quarter of the game when Talwinder came up with the decisive strike to seal Delhi’s third win in four games. Mumbai, who led 2-1 at half-time, suffered their third straight defeat.

For Delhi, drag-flick expert Rupinder Pal Singh scored the first two goals off penalty corners after Mumbai had stunned them with a superb field effort by German forward Florian Fuchs early in the first quarter. Harmanpreet Singh converted a penalty stroke to give Mumbai a 3-2 advantage before Talwinder dashed their hopes.

The home team started the proceedings on a speedy note to leave the Delhi defence clueless for a while. But their forwards were off target with Danish Mujtaba shooting straight into the goalkeeper’s pads in the fourth minute, while Manpreet Singh was guilty of wasting good chances on two occasions.

In between, it was Delhi who took the lead courtesy their first penalty corner when Rupinder beat David Harte under the Mumbai bar with a precise shot. Later, Mumbai went ahead and looked almost certain of winning the tie before Talwinder struck in the dying minutes.