Mohali, February 19, 2015: A stunning game of hockey was
witnessed by hockey enthusiast across India as Jaypee Punjab Warriors
took on Dabang Mumbai at Mohali today in the last match of the pool phase
before the League enters the semi-finals to be played on February 21.
While Dabang Mumbai was leading the game 1-0 at half time, Jaypee Punjab
Warriors came back into the game and beat the visiting team 3-2 to top the Pool
Standings.
Just five minutes into the game Dabang Mumbai’s,
Chinglensana Singh missed out on an opportunity to score the initial goal in
the game as he gave enough time to Jaap Stockmann to stop the ball from going
to the nets. With both teams looking at opening their account, just three
minutes left in the first quarter, SV Sunil intelligently hit the ball at the
foot of Jeremy Hayward in the D resulting in Japyee Punjab Warriors getting
their first penalty corner. While Sandeep Singh hit hard, it was a good save by
the Punjab goalie denying the home team a
goal. Moments later Punjab had another
opportunity at penalty corner and Gaganpreet Singh taking the flick this time
missed as Vikram Pillay averted the danger by flicking the ball away. Going
into the two minute break the score stood at 0-0.
Immediately into the second quarter, Nick Catlin scored the
first goal for the team marking his first in the League as he hit the ball past
Stockmann giving the goalie no chance to stop the goal. With this Dabang Mumbai
opened the goal score for the day and was leading 1-0. The rest of the session
saw Jaypee Punjab Warriors keeping the pressure on Mumbai by penetrating the
circle and had many chances to convert but close misses resulted in Dabang
Mumbai leading the game 1-0 at the end of first half.
Entering the second half of the game, Dabang Mumbai was
immediately into business as Timothy Deavin charged into the D with the ball,
hit towards the nets but Jaap Stockmann saved and Sandeep Singh cleared the
ball. Jaypee Punjab Warriors got another penalty corner and Sandeep again tried
to get the ball to the nets but was unfortunate as the ball found the bar much
to the relief of Dabang Mumbai. Punjab finally
got the equaliser in the 37th minute when Sandeep Singh hit the ball at the D
to Jake Whetton who slapped the ball into the nets giving David Harte no chance
to stop. The goal was the 125th goal of Hero Hockey India League 2015.
Jaypee Punjab Warriors finally took the lead in the game
when they got a Penalty Stroke in the 44th minute as Gurmail Singh charging
into the D had his stick stopped by Tom Boon. Sandeep Singh taking the Strike
ensured he didn’t miss and took the score 2-1.
Dabang Mumbai was looking at equalizing the game, just
minutes into the last quarter. Bharat superbly hit at the goal, beating Jaap
Stockmann but unfortunately the ball hit the post much to the dismay of the
team. Dabang Mumbai got their first penalty corner of the game in the 53rd
minute and the young and dangerous Harmanpreet Singh had no problem in hitting
it past the world’s best goalkeeper Jaap Stockmann beating him completely. This
marked Dabang Mumbai equalizing the game 2-2 and Harmanpreet Singh adding the
5th goal to his personal tally in the League. The last few minutes saw the game
increasing momentum as both teams were looking at scoring one more and winning
the match.
57th minute and Dabang Mumbai got another penalty corner but
this time Harmanpreet Singh could not control the ball and failed to
capitalize. It was in the 59th minute when Jaypee Punjab Warriors finally took
the lead 3-2, as good stick work and seamless passes between Jamie Dywer and
Simon Orchard finally saw Orchard passing the ball to Kieran Govers who
effortlessly hit the nets beating David Harte. With this goal the home team won
over Dabang Mumbai 3-2 as the last match in the pool phase culminated.
Man of the Match Jake Whetton, Jaypee Punjab Warriors said “I
would have loved scoring a few more goals. Hopefully will score against Delhi
Waveriders in the semi-finals. I am in form and it is nice to score goals and I
hope I carry it in the semi-finals and finals. We are looking forward to the
game on Saturday.”
Speaking on the match today, Valentin Altenburg, Head Coach,
Dabang Mumbai said “We played well but bad luck. Jeremy Hayward played
really well and had an impressive performance today. We started well again, but
we lost the game in the last quarter. We were unfortunate and missed out on
many opportunities”.
Hero Goal of the Match – Nick Catlin, Dabang Mumbai
Man of the Match – Jake Whetton, Jaypee Punjab Warriors.
HIL Press release
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