Sandeep's brace helps Dynamos to tame Shers

Dec 29:  Riding on a brace struck by drag-flick specialist Sandeep Singh Chandigarh Dynamos came from behind to score a hard fought 2-1 win over Sher-e-Jallandhar in a keenly contested match of the 4th Premier Hockey League played at the Sector 42 Hockey Stadium in Chandigarh here on Friday.

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The match started on an attacking note and turned into livewire with both the local favourites teams displayed some aggressive style of hockey in the presence of huge crowd that turned up to witness the match inspite of chilly weather.

Shers had a first shy at the rival goal through Jarnail Singh in their very first move but he was bit unlucky on that occasion, as Dynamos goalkeeper padded away Jarnail's shot. But soon Jarnail settled the score as he drew first blood for Shers in the seventh minute.

Mandeep Singh received a long pass from Jugraj Singh in the rival’s 25-yard area and produced a feeble shot that couldn’t be cleared by Dynamos Rajpal Singh and Shers alert youngster Gurvinder Chandi gained the ball in his possession.

Chandi’s hit touched a defender's stick en-route to Jarnail Singh on the left corner of the circle. Jarnail darted inside the circle dodging past defender Sandeep Singh before unleashing a stunning reverse hit, which sounded the board beating Dynamos' custodian Baljit Singh all ends up.

Shers lost the battle as they went in to the shell and adopted a defensive approach that cost them the match in the end. On the other hand Dynamos took control of the midfield with their Pakistani import Ghazanfar Ali performing tremendously as a centre-half.

Man of the match Ali fed his forwards consistently and maintained the tempo of the game. His good ground covering helped Dynamos forwards Ravipal Singh and Rajpal Singh to combine well with Deepak Thakur and Prabhjot Singh.

Both Thakur and Prabhjot were marked tightly by the Shers defenders and weren’t being able to play their normal game. Considering that Dynamos changed their strategy as Ghazanfar Ali started feeding more to Ravipal and Rajpal at the upfront and the strategy instantly reaped benefits for them with Dynamos earned as many as nine short corners in the match.

Dynamos drag flick specialist Sandeep Singh initially struggled with his trademark flicks, which he is known for. However, amending from his previous mistakes Sandeep restored parity through fifth penalty corner in the 52nd minute, he produced a waist-high flick to the left of goalkeeper Salman Akbar.

Shers lost the plot after conceding an equaliser while Dynamos' sustained pressure to yield results as Sandeep Singh found the roof of the net from team’s ninth and last penalty corner just three minutes before the final hooter to seal the fate of the match.