PHL 2007: Third day, the 6th jan 2007.
Match No. 5
Warriors Pip Shers
Chennai, Jan 6: After a dull regulation time without goals, Maratha Warriors conjured a winner in the dying moments of the first half of extra-time against Sher-E-Jalandhar in their Premier Hockey League encounter at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here on Saturday.
Earlier, Orissa Steelers too won the match by a silver goal against Chandigarh Dynamos.
In a match that was fought mainly in midfield, and with neither team being able to craft a clear shot at goal, the Warriors managed to pip the Shers with a ‘silver goal’ off a counter-attack following a penalty corner. Imran Warsi picked the ball deep in his half and put Hemant Gethe in possession on the left flank. Hemant rifled a hard hit in the direction of the goal, and the ball picked up a deflection from Bharat Chikara’s stick at the edge of the ‘D’, putting Shivendra Singh in the clear. Shivendra made a brilliant dive and nudged the ball into the open goal.
That was the only goal-worthy move of the entire match, although Sher-E-Jalandhar’s Gagan Ajit Singh was guilty of squandering a half-chance in the fourth quarter. The star striker found himself in the ‘D’ with only the goal-keeper to beat, but India custodian Adrian D’Souza charged out in time and cut down the angle.
Apart from that move, the 70 minutes of full time produced no spectacle for the crowd. There were a few good individual shows, with Marathas’ skipper Viren Rasquinha working his heart out, at times deep in his territory, and at other times creating moves up front. At the other end, Gagan Ajit Singh, Baljit Dhillon and Tejbir Singh showed some flair but could not combine well enough on the day to make a difference to the result.
Warrior forced a lone short corners while Shers had two and none of them yielded a result.
PHL 2007: Third day, the 6th jan 2007.
Match No. 4
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`Steller’ show by Steelars
A sizzling drag flick in the fourth minute of the extra-time by Tjeerd Steller fetched the match-winner for Orissa Steelers after they were goalless against Chandigarh Dynamos in the regulation time of the Premier Hockey League encounter at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here on Saturday. Orissa garnered two points while Dynamos had to be content with just one.
Orissa’s import from the Netherlands, Steller played his heart out, but could not touch his wonted form during the regulation time. However, after playing the dummy during the first short corner in the extra time by letting his skipper Dilip Tirkey do the hitting, Steller himself took the drag flick and he beat the Dynamos custodian Baljit Singh by sheer accuracy and speed.
Chandigarh Dynamos continued to show gaps in the midfield and relied on long passes but their forwards failed to get their act together at the all-important end. Prabjot Singh worked hard but lacked support. With Dilip Tirkey and William Xalxo manning the defence admirably, Dynamos found it hard to penetrate and found rival custodian Dinesh Ekka a hard nut to crack. Ekka, who made brilliant saves, with good anticipation and agility, was later declared the Lion of the match. His save off a powerful penalty corner flick from Jugraj displayed his enthusiasm and aggression in abundance. He pounced on the waist-high ball and deflected it far and wide.
Bimal Lakra was prominent in the Orissa midfield distributing the ball to their forwards Sunil Ekka, Bruno Hadrian and Birendra Lakra but the trio despite making good moves found it hard to break the defence manned by Jugraj Singh and Prabhjot of Chandigarh. However, the arrival of Adnan Zakir in the second quarter pepped up the attack but all Orissa could do was force two short corners in the last quarter.
Orissa earned four short corners, including the two in the extra-time, to one by Dynamos.