Soorma Hockey Club snapped a two-game losing run in the Hockey India League (HIL) to beat Shrachi Bengal Tigers 2-1 here at the Birsa Munda International Stadium on Monday.
The returning Harmanpreet Singh and veteran goalkeeper Vincent Vanasch starred in defence while Prabhjot Singh and Maninder Singh got the crucial goals as Soorma (sixth) continued to trail behind Shrachi (fourth) on the points table.
From the pushback, Shrachi shaded the possession and circle penetration statistics but couldn’t find a way past an in-form Vanasch. Affan Yousuf cut a frustrated figure in the first half after three of his efforts were superbly saved by the Belgian. One particular passage of play saw Vanasch thwart both Affan and Jaskaran Singh with back-to-back saves.
But it was Harmanpreet, who showed his quality on the ball to help breach a sturdy Shrachi defence. Afforded time and space near the halfway line, the Indian national team skipper arrowed a ball over the top to find an unmarked Maninder Singh in the circle’s edge; a pass so good it got a shout of approval from Vanasch behind him. Maninder brought it down flicked it towards goal but it deflected off a Shrachi stick and looped up kindly for Prabhjot Singh to lift the ball past Jamie Carr to give the lead.
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The goal proved a sucker punch to Shrachi’s confidence as Soorma grew into the game from thereon. The side accumulated the penalty corner count and despite Hamranpreet being off the field, it had a capable deputy in Nicolas Della Torre, whose drag-flick was halted but Maninder was on hand to sound the board.
The second half was an end-to-end affair with Soorma struggling to control the game’s pace in the third quarter. Shrachi poured men forward and stretched the game to put Soorma on the backfoot. From a penalty corner, Jugraj Singh’s powerful drag-flick managed to find a way past Vanasch’s padding and squeezed past the man on the line to provide his team with a lifeline.
Jugraj lined up another penalty corner right after, however Vanasch was there again to see out the victory for his side.
Result:
Shrachi Bengal Tigers 1 (Jugraj Singh 39’) lost to Soorma Hockey Club 2 (21’ Prabhjot Singh, 28’ Maninder Singh)
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