On paper, Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers obtained the identical variety of factors from their final matches: none. After beginning the Hockey India League with three wins out of three, they’ve now suffered back-to-back defeats. However the nature of these losses couldn’t have been extra contrasting. On Friday in Rourkela, the Tigers went down 1-2 in a carefully fought contest in opposition to a gritty Tamil Nadu Dragons, now the brand new leaders of the match. They huffed, they puffed, however couldn’t break the Dragons’ defence down.
As captain Rupinder Pal Singh mirrored on the loss, he made it a degree to insist this was a efficiency a lot better than their 0-6 defeat in opposition to Kalinga Lancers, one the place they only didn’t flip up at first and misplaced to an early blitzkrieg. Rupinder additionally conceded that the turning level of the evening got here off his personal stick: he uncharacteristically missed a penalty stroke – his second of the match – that might have introduced his aspect stage late within the third quarter. For Dragons, Karthi Selvam (16’) and Uttam Singh (37’) had been on the scoresheet whereas Rupinder’s different penalty stroke was Tigers’ solely objective of the evening
The complete-time stats mentioned a narrative: Tigers dominated circle entries (25 to 16), pictures on objective (14 to eight), penalty corners received (10 to 2)… however the quantity that mattered was in favour of Dragons, led by captain Amit Rohidas’ set-piece speeding and veteran goalkeeper David Harte’s flurry of saves.
Uttam Singh”s profitable objective for @tndragonshockey is our Hero Second of the Match!
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— Hockey India League (@HockeyIndiaLeag) January 10, 2025
The competition between the match’s high two sides lived as much as the billing from the phrase go when it comes to the depth on show nevertheless it was a largely scrappy first quarter, that had a whole lot of needle and was fairly bodily.
Poacher’s end
Early in Q2 although, Dragons made the breakthrough, due to TN’s personal. A protracted aerial into the circle was managed expertly by Uttam Singh down the left byline. He dribbled alongside the road however delayed his go simply sufficient to seek out Karthi in house in entrance of objective. And the Tamil Nadu striker fired his aspect into the lead with a poacher’s end. After a gradual begin to the match, he has now discovered the again of the online twice in two matches.
It was a end that was paying homage to SV Sunil’s in Gonasika’s match the earlier evening. Commenting within the studio throughout half-time, hockey pundit Siddharth Pandey – who’s the director of Hyderabad Toofans – noticed how Sunil cleverly made house for himself by shifting his place by a yard and famous that it was a lesson for younger forwards watching. Karthi appeared to have performed simply that.
Tigers upped the ante thereafter and created a flurry of possibilities earlier than half time however Harte and his defence stood tall. On the break, coach Colin Batch mentioned: “The way in which we completed the half is how I would like us to play the subsequent two quarters, the depth was good, and we have to maintain that up.”
Rupinder Pal Singh converts from a penalty stroke for the all-important equaliser!
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— Hockey India League (@HockeyIndiaLeag) January 10, 2025
Simply so, Tigers hit again inside 5 minutes of the second half. A foot on the goal-line from a Penalty Nook led to a stroke and Rupinder made no mistake. The strain was now immense on Dragons.
However moments later, Dragons discovered one other opening in opposition to the run of play. Moritz Ludwig in a lot of house down the precise, and his driving run into the circle prompted chaos within the Tigers’ defence and his cutback was swept into the online by Uttam. The creator of the primary objective, turned scorer this time as Dragons swiftly reestablished their lead.
Then got here some drama. Dragons coach Rein van Eijk was not joyful, wagging his fingers within the air after a penalty stroke was awarded by the officers to Tigers. However that quickly was celebration as Rupinder fired it large this time with Harte guessing appropriately.
Karthi Selvam offers @tndragonshockey the lead with a cheeky little end!
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— Hockey India League (@HockeyIndiaLeag) January 10, 2025
Harte then was prime Manuel Neuer as he charged out and put in an excellent stick sort out when the ever-lively Sukhjeet Singh was shaping to take a shot at objective.
Dragons endured a nervy ending after Ludwig obtained a yellow card to spend 5 of the final 6 minutes on the sidelines. With 2 minutes to go, there was one other yellow card for Dragons (Chandan Yadav) and for a couple of seconds, they had been all the way down to 9 males on the pitch. It was a correct park-the-bus efficiency at this level however they held on.
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