Dabang Mumbai regained the pole position in the 5th Hockey India League, trouncing last year’s runners-up Kalinga Lancers 5-2 on the latter’s own den here at Kalinga Stadium Hockey Complex today. For the winners, captain Florian Fuchs and Gurjant Singh scored a field goal each, while Harmanpreet Singh converted a penalty corner. Glenn Turner pulled one back for Kalinga Lancers toward the fag end of the lop-sided contest.

This was the first away win for Dabang Mumbai and they now lead the league table with 23 points from seven games, which include four wins, two losses and one draw. Today’s emphatic win also helped Dabang Mumbai avenge the narrow 3-4 defeat they had suffered against Kalinga Lancers on their home turf five days ago.

On the other hand, the defeat was the third in seven matches for Kalinga Lancers, who slipped to the second spot in the league table with 20 points in their account. After a day’s rest, Hockey India League will resume on February 7 with defending champions Jaypee Punjab Warriors taking on Uttar Pradesh Wizards at Delhi.

Today’s match started on a slow pace but soon picked up momentum, yielding one penalty corner for Dabang Mumbai and three for Kalinga Lancers. However, the scoreboard remained blank as all four opportunities proved in vain thanks to valiant saves respective goalkeepers Andrew Charter and David Harte.

Though Harte was kept busy by Lancers forwards, he rose to the occasion each time, displaying excellent reflex. He also denied the home team a field goal in the 18th minute. Inspired by Harte’s impressive performance, Dabang Mumbai forwards launched their attack, which fetched them two back-to-back penalty corners in the 23rd minute. Though Charted saved the first one with his pads, Harmanpreet Singh successfully converted the second to enable the Mumbai outfit lead 1-0 at the half-time.

After conceding the lead, Kalinga Lancers seemed to be rudderless ship, losing their coordination and aggressive approach. This only made their task much more difficult for the equalizer. On the other hand, Lancers’ lethargic game, helped Dabang Mumbai find easy opportunities to increase their lead. The inevitable happened in the 31st minute when Dabang Mumbai captain Florian Fuchs scored a field goal with a sizzling reverse hit.

Trailing 0-3 at the end of the third quarter, Kalinga Lancers had a chance to get back into the game through a penalty corner, their fourth in the 50th minute. But the opportunity went down the drain due to faulty execution of the variation.

On the other hand, maintaining their domination with calculated attacks, Dabang Mumbai further consolidated their lead with Gurjant Singh scoring a field goal from acute angle in the 53rd minute (5-0). This also fetched Gurjant the Goal of the Match award of Rs 50,000.

Before making a meek surrender, Kalinga Lancers found some consolation as star striker Glenn Turner scored a field goal, deflecting a stinging hit by Billy Bakker three minutes before the hooter (2-5). With this goal, the 100th of the ongoing edition Turner maintained his position as the leading scorer with 10 goals to his name.

Dabang Mumbai custodian David Harted bagged the Man of the Match award of Rs 50,000. Harmanpreet Singh (Dabang Mumba) and Amit Rohidas (Kalinga Lancers) became richer by Rs 25,000 as the two were adjudged the Young Achiever of the Match and Most Entertaining Player of the Match respectively.
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PHOTO: Action from the match between Kalinga Lancers and Dabang Mumbai in Bhubaneswar on February 5, 2017.