PHL 2007: Seventh Day, the 10th Jan 2007
Match No.11 (Marata Warriors Vs Chandigarh Dynamos

Lions breeze past Veerans

Chennai, Jan 10: Bangalore Lions decimated Chennai Veerans 6-1 in their Premier Hockey League encounter on Wednesday, with Pakistan striker Rehan Butt getting three.

From the outset, there was no doubt who the winners were going to be. The Lions had the bigger names and the faster feet. The forwards, Rehan Butt, Tushar Khandekar and Hari Prasad, ran through the defence time and again, and the Veerans had no clue how to contain them.

Arjun Halappa, as usual, exerted his superiority in midfield, distributing expertly and finding his strikers with precision.

The Lions went into the lead in the fourth minute through a Len Aiyappa drag flick off a penalty corner. Oddly enough, that was the only penalty corner that the Lions managed in the whole match, while the Veerans forced six. That they could convert only one of the six, and even missed a penalty stroke, summed up their sorry story.

Defender Raghunath in particular had a wretched day, gifting the second goal to the Lions with a defensive lapse, failing to convert the penalty stroke, and being sent off late in the match. Even the fact that he managed to score the Veerans’ only goal could not salvage his day.

The first half of the match brought three goals to the Lions. Amar Aiyamma had scored the second, taking advantage of Raghunath’s weak clearance to sprint away, play a one-two with Rehan, and flick it over onrushing goal-keeper Shreejesh in the 23 rd minute.

Ten minutes later, a goal-mouth scramble left Rehan in possession, and he pushed in.

The Veerans looked like salvaging something from the match when they won a penalty stroke early in the second half, but Raghunath pushed into goal-keeper Bharat Chetri’s pads, and things went further downhill for his team. Minutes later it was 4-0, as Hari Prasad in mid-field found Tushar Khandekar with a smart through pass; Tushar ran through the defence and smashed a grounder from the top of the circle.

Veerans finally got one on the scoreboard with a Raghunath drag-flick. This was followed by a brief spell where the Veerans forced some pressure on the Lions’ defence. Suresh Kumar in midfield and Raja and captain Adam Sinclair upfront gamely fought on, and they nearly got a second goal when Pramod Kumar’s fierce grounder found a deflection and slammed the right post.

But the Lions weren’t done yet. Hari Prasad again found Rehan with a long through. The Pakistani striker dodged past Shreejesh and slotted home. The final nail in the Veerans’ coffin came when Rehan found the net with a reverse hit six minutes from the hooter.

The PHL will resume on 16th, after a break of five days.

Result: Bangalore Lions 6 bt Chennai Veerans 1

Lions (4th: Len Aiyappa; 23rd: Amar Aiyamma; 33rd: Rehan Butt; 45th: Tushar Khandekar; 59 th : Rehan Butt; 64th: Rehan Butt)

Veerans (52nd: Raghunath)