Dabang Mumbai’s best showing, in terms of a fight-back, was not enough to get over the line against a confident Kalinga Lancers in the CIL Hockey India League 2016 at the Mahindra here on Sunday.
The home team roared back from four goals down to draw level in an inspired third quarter, but was then outnumbered on a counter-attack. Gaspar Quirjn’s clinical finish in the 55th minute sealed a 6-4 victory for the visitors and handed Mumbai its fourth loss in-a-row. With three wins after five games, Lancers move into second spot on the table.
Earlier the visitors took the lead much against the run of play via two penalty corner strikes from Gurjinder Singh and Adam Dixie. Lalit Upadhyay then dived in to tap a thrilling field goal, reading the pass from Glenn Turner and reacting in a flash.
Mumbai clawed back from this four-goal deficit via field goals from Florian Fuchs and Gurjant Singh. Fuchs almost got his second but the ball hit the side netting and then watched in horror at Lancers striking the body-blow.
Moritz Fuerste, the German controlling the Lancers’ flow of play, spotted teammate Gaspar up front with a shortage of blue shirts around him. The Lancers captain sized up the situation in a flash and transferred the ball to his striker with a long, powerful hit.
Gaspar tapped on the run, swerved clear of his marker, spotted the onrushing goalkeeper and calmly slotted home as Mumbai slumped from the high of catching up at 4-4 to 6-4 down.
Mark Hager, the Kalinga Lancers coach, felt his team was lucky to catch its opponent by surprise. “Mumbai played well in the first half, but we got the goals. They came back and at 4-4 the game could have gone either way. HIL teams are so close, anything can happen.”
The result:
Kalinga Lancers 6 (Gurjinder Singh, Adam Dixie, Lalit Upadhyay 2FG, Gaspar Quirjn 2FG) bt Dabang Mumbai 4 (Florian Fuchs 2FG, Gurjant Singh 2FG).
