Chandigarh, Dec 30: Local favourites Chandigarh Dynamos scraped past Maratha Warriors 1-0 to book their berth in the semifinals of the Premier Hockey League at the Sector 42 Hockey Stadium here on Sunday.
Dynamos still have a match in hand against Chennai Veerans and have 12 points from five matches while Maratha Warriors remain on seven points after five outings. They have to beat Hyderabad Sultans in their last match to make the semifinal grade.
Chandigarh Dynamos played a fast and attacking game and their Pakistani star Ghazanfar Ali was once again the fulcrum of the team controlling the pace of game from the midfield. He was distributing the ball well as Chandigarh Dynamos hunted in pairs. Rajpal Singh, Ravipal, Deepak and Prabjot combined well in the frontline and made many raids but they scored just once. Maratha Warriors had more possession and better share of the exchanges in the second and third quarters but their forwards could not support each other in the rival defence. They were always alone in the attack and despite penetrating into the circle with good dodges many a time, they were ultimately outnumbered in the defence where Zeeshan Ashraf did a commendable job for Dynamos.
Off a left-flank move, Dynamos posted their lead in the 26th minute and it turned out to be the match-winner as they hung on to the narrow lead till the end. A corner shot from Rajpal Singh found Ravipal Singh just outside the circle on the goalline and Ravipal sent a cross into the goalmouth where Sher Singh connected his stick close to the goalkeeper to put Dynamos ahead.
Later, Maratha Warriors had a better share of exchanges but they failed to convert any of the three short corners they earned. Their Dutch import Looijem Melchior, who took the flicks, was foiled by the first runner during his first attempt and the second was sticked away by a diving Dynamos custodian Baljit Singh. From the third short corner, Warriors saw a bad stop but Ajmer Singh recovered and gave a short pass to Dhananjay Mahadik. But again goalkeeper Baljit blocked his shot. The rebound came back to Looijem on the right but the Dutch player’s shot flew over the bar.
In the 56th minute, Warriors had a golden chance to strike the equalizer but a superb goalline save by Ravipal saved the blushes for Dynamos. Gurbaj Singh and Rehan Butt combined well on the left flank and Rehan darted into the circle before sending a minus pass to Dhananjay in the middle. The Warriors’ player took a crack at the goal and beat goalkeeper Baljit Singh but Ravipal saved it on the goalline and cleared it to safety.
Towards the end Warriors made desperate efforts to get the equliser but failed find the touch in circle to beat the rival defence.
Dynamos skipper Rajpal Singh was declared man of the match.
Photo by Dharam Diwakar, Courtesy ESPN