Chandigarh, Dec 29: Defending champions Orissa Steelers found their wonted form and came back into the tournament with an exciting 4-2 win over Maratha Warriors to keep their hopes alive for a semifinal berth in the fourth edition of the Premier Hockey League at the Sector 42 Hockey Stadium here on Saturday.

Playing an attacking game right from the word `go’, Orissa displayed exciting hockey in all the departments of the game. Their Pakistan import Shakeel Abbasi was at his brilliant best throughout the match and with Prabodh Tirkey, Sunil Ekka and Ignace Tirkey playing their hearts out, Orissa dominated the proceedings and called the shots till the end.

Orissa marched ahead in the very 7th minute following an attack from the left flank. Sunil Ekka sent a stinging cross into the circle and the ball delfected off a defender stick before Ajitesh Rai managed to gain hold at the top of the circle. He wasted no time and took a rasping drive into the boards to put Orissa in the lead.

The game lost a bit of its pace in the second quarter and the action was confined to the midfield except a couple of dangerous moves by Shakeel Abbasi. Though the pace picked up in the third quarter, the scoreline remained static. Warriors goalkeeper Adrian D’Souza made a brilliant save in the 25 th minute off a shot by Abbasi after Damandeep initiated a raid. Later in the third quarter, Adrian foiled Abbasi in the 40th minute and Eliazer Lakra in the 44th minute. Maratha Warriors’ Shivender Singh was prominent in the attack but failed to get any support from his midfield. Pakistani Rehan Butt was not allowed enough space by the Orissa defence and he could not display the form he showed in the earlier matches.

Orissa continued to make repeated raids into the rival citadel and increased the lead in the 50th minute. Sunil Ekka sent a zooming shot into the circle from the left midfield and Shakeel Abbasi wriggled out of his marker Ajmer Singh and stretched his stick to make a brilliant deflection into the goal. (2-0).

However, Warriors earned the first of their three penalty corners and pulled one back in the 57th minute. Warriors’ Dutch import Looijem Melchior sending his low drag flick to the boards. But Warriors plans of a comeback were thwarted immediately as Orissa struck back scoring two goals in the space of two minutes.

In the 58th minute, Shakeel Abbasi, put in by Ignace Tirkey, found the target to make it 3-1. With the defence out of place and only goalkeeper to beat, Abbasi caught goalie Adrian on the wrong foot and tapped through his legs.

In the very next minute, Orissa made it 4-1 with Ignace once again feeding the ball to Shakeel Abbasi. This time Shakeel cut into the circle and dribbled ahead but with the custodian rushing out he gave a back pass into the goalmouth and Damandeep Singh knocked into the open goal.

Warriors scored a consolation goal in the 62nd minute with Looijem scoring again with his waist-high drag flick from the second short corner. However, the Dutch import could not succeed during their next set-piece drill in the last minute with goalie Adrian palming it out

Shakeel Abbasi was declared man of the match. Orissa, after five matches have eight points with a match to go while Maratha Warriors are on seven points after four matches. They still have two more matches in hand.

Photo by Dharam Diwakar, courtesy ESPN