Bhubaneswar: Dabang Mumbai exacted sweet revenge of the home defeat they suffered at the hands of Kalinga Lancers by drubbing the hosts 5-2 in a match of HIL-V at the Kalinga Stadium here Sunday.
Mumbai rode on field goal by skipper Florian Fuchs (31st) and Gurjant Singh (53rd) and a penalty conversion by Harmanpreet Singh (23rd) while Glenn Turner pulled one back for the hosts.
With this victory, Mumbai went on top of the table with 23 points from seven matches, while Lancers slipped a place to second with 21 points from as many matches.
Lancers started aggressively, but Mumbai were equal to the task. In the first 10 minutes, the visitors earned two penalty corners, but failed to score due to the resolute host defenders and custodian Abhinab Pandey who made a brilliant save. On the other hand, Mumbai goalkeeper Krishan Pathak also foiled Moritz Fuerste’s penalty corner attempt.
In the second quarter Mumbai put tremendous pressure on Lancers and got their third penalty corner which Harmanpreet converted.
After the change of ends Mumbai continued with their momentum and Fuchs scored a brilliant field goal in the first minute of the third quarter to make it 3-0.
Lancers tried to make amends in the fourth quarter. They fought hard to get a penalty corner in the 51th minute, but could not capitalise on it. Unperturbed Mumbai came back to score through Gurjant and make the scoreline 5-0.
Lancer’s prolific scorer Turner got a field goal to reduce the margin. However, it was as far they got as the Mumbai defenders played obdurately to destroy the hosts’ hopes of a comeback.
PNN
