Cheered on by its noisy, flag-waving fans at the Mahindra stadium, Dabang Mumbai earned its first win after six matches this season, surviving a valiant fight-back from Kalinga Lancers in the Hero Hockey India League on Sunday.
The home team scored through a Jeremy Hayward rebound off a penalty-corner and a Harmanpreet Singh drag-flick to win 2-1. Kalinga, which chased the ball all over the turf undeterred by the two-goal deficit, pulled one back through an Amir Khan field goal, but got nary a look after that.
With Belgian forward Tom Boon wearing the captain’s armband — a continuation of rotating captaincy policy initiated by coach Valentin Altenberg to enhance collective responsibility — the home team started on a positive note, but its two early penalty-corner awards did not translate to goals.
The first quarter produced frenetic action, with Kalinga trying to splinter the defence via long hits deflected by the receiver.
Mumbai relied on the midfielders switching flanks swiftly to catch the opponents by surprise.
However, neither goalkeeper was unduly bothered.
The first goal came when Kalinga custodian Andrew Charter blocked a drag by Harmanpreet, and Hayward sounded the boards off the rebound.
That lead held through the next couple of quarters. Both teams forced penalty corners in the third, but the goalkeepers held sway, and Mumbai hung on amidst pacy play.
Harmanpreet showed his superb skills in set-piece situations by drag-flicking the team’s fifth penalty corner, an angled shot to the right.
Kalinga hit back through a clever deflection of its own right in the goalmouth. Amir Khan used his wrist to change the direction of the ball as a pass from the left goalline found him in range.
Hayward was named ‘Best Player’.
The result:
Dabang Mumbai 2 (Jeremy Hayward 18, Harmanpreet Singh 43) bt Kalinga Lancers 1 (Amir Khan 44).
