Shers romp into PHL finals

Needing an outright victory to secure a place in the best-of-three finals of the Third Premier Hockey League against Orissa Steelers...

Needing an outright victory to secure a place in the best-of-three finals of the Third Premier Hockey League against Orissa Steelers, Sher-e-Jalandhar outclassed Hyderabad Sultans to win 3-1 at the Sector 42 Hockey Stadium.

A beaming Sher-e-Jalandhar coach Balwinder Shammi said his team stepped into the field with an outright victory in mind. Shers now have 23 points from 11 matches while the Steelers are at 25 from the same number of games.

The game picked pace after an insipid first quarter. Soon into the second quarter Spaniard Santi Freixa put the Jalandhar squad ahead. Seasoned halfback Baljit Singh Saini sent a pass from the right flank to Tejbir Singh, who gave the ball to Santi. The 24-year-old sounded the board for a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute.

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After that there were a few good moves from the Jalandhar, but they couldn’t convert their chances. Sultans then went on to equalise, cashing in on a defensive lapse from the Shers in the 46th minute. Tariq Aziz stole the ball from a Jalandhar defender and rolled it to an unmarked Rajwinder Singh, who simply guided the ball into the goal.

However, the joy was short-lived as striker Gagan Ajit Singh scored after getting a clean ball from Santi in a goalmouth melee in the 47th minute. Gagan Ajit deflected an angular hit from Tejbir in the 66th minute to make it 3-1.

Dynamos miss out

Chandigarh: A superb solo effort by Pakistan captain Rehan Butt scripted an extra time 2-1 victory for the Bangalore Lions over Chandigarh Dynamos. Rehan dodged three defenders before aiming at the goals, which was deflected onto the board by Sandeep Michael. Already out of the final race, they had finished 1-1 at end of the normal time.