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Skipper Jamie Dwyer scored a brace, as Jaypee Punjab Warriors registered their first win in the third edition of the Hockey India League (HIL), beating Kalinga Lancers 4-2 at the International Hockey Stadium, Mohali. Dwyer was in the league of his own during the encounter and ripped apart Lancers defense. He not only scored a couple of goals for his side, but also assisted in the fourth, which sealed the contest.
As expected, the match witnessed some fast hockey as both teams tested each other on quite a few occasions in the first quarter. The deadlock, however, was broken by the Lancers when Lalit Kumar Upadhyay scored in the seventh minute.
The move was initiated by Roshan Minz and Upadhyay made no mistake in gunning the ball past Jaap Stockman. Kalinga managed to keep the lead intact and entered the second quarter 1-0 up. Punjab played the second quarter with a lot more intent and came out with a plan. They attacked in numbers and looked to get the penalty corners, rather than going to slot the ball into the goal.
Sandeep and Dwyer take control
Their perseverance soon rewarded when they were awarded a couple of penalty corners in quick intervals. The Warriors failed to capitalise on the first but made no mistake in erasing Kalinga’s lead second time. Punjab opted for more variation instead of going for a drag flick, despite having Sandeep Singh in the ranks. And, Dwyer made no mistake in firing the ball into the net from just seven yards out of the goal.
The Punjab Warriors took the lead moments later through their talisman Dwyer as he rocketed the ball past goalkeeper Harjot Singh. It was one-way traffic from that point onwards and the hosts went into the halftime 2-1 up. Punjab’s lead was further stretched when they scored twice in the second half and put the Lancers out of the contest. Sandeep Singh was the first to score when his drag flick fired into the bottom right corner in the 37th minute.
Sandeep could have scored again through a penalty corner in the fourth quarter, but the star drag flicker was denied by the bar. However, minutes later Dharamvir Singh scored, when he collected a beautiful through ball from Dwyer in the 50th minute.
Gurjinder Singh, meanwhile, pulled one back for the visitors in the 52nd minute when he converted a penalty corner in the 52nd minute. It proved too late for the Lancers as the Punjab Warriors managed to cling on to their lead in the remaining minutes.
