Punjab down Mumbai for first win at home
Deepankar Sharda/TNS
Jalandhar, January 24
Credit it to their luck or the missed opportunities by the opponents or a packed defence that enabled the Punjab Warriors team to register a 4-3 win over Mumbai Magicians in their ongoing campaign of Hockey India League at the Surjit Hockey Stadium.
Playing their fourth home game, the Punjab team received early jolts as they gifted four penalty corners in the first 17minutes but Mumbai’s Sandeep Singh failed to score thrice but netted the fourth one in the 14th minute.
Receiving a wake-up call, the home team started targeting flanks and received their first penalty corner but in absence of a specialist failed to score. Nevertheless, the team levelled through Australian Mark Knowles, who successfully placed the ball inside nets in the 29th minute. Young guns including Gagandeep Singh and Gurmail Singh started taking big leaps with ball. In-form Malak Singh smartly collected the ball before defeating Mumbai’s goalkeeper in the 35th minute.
Riding high on first-half’s 2-1 lead, the team continued to play well and striking the right chords. With their mid-field packed, the home team again put themselves in front as SV Sunil managed to gather the ball and posting the third goal in the 40th minute. The joy was soon doubled after Russell Ford added his contribution with a brilliant deflection in the44th minute to take the game (4-2).
Meanwhile, the last 17-minutes saw Punjab team packing their defence and Mumbai team searching for more goals. The latter reduced the margin through Gleen Turner as he collected a loose pass by defender Igance Tirkey and defeated goalkeeper Bharat Chetri, in 54th minute. Substitute goalkeeper Bharat Chetri conceded a self-goal to seal the match (4-3) after failing in his attempt to stop the deflected-ball in his jurisdiction.