Kalinga Lancers thrash Dabang Mumbai by 4-2 in HIL

BHUBANESWAR: After defeat in the inaugural match, the Kalinga Lancers on Thursday bounced back and registered their first victory beating Dabang Mumbai by 4-2 points in the Hockey India League (HIL) 2016 held at Kalinga Stadium here.

The host team secured the victory with two magnificent field goals (each field goal is two points) produced by Adam Dixon and Glenn Turner.

Both the teams Dabang Mumbai and host Kalinga Lancers started playing some defensive shots from the beginning of the match.

While Lancers tried to play the match with some calculated moves, the players of Dabang Mumbai were also giving no room to the Lancers as the first quarter of the match remained goalless.

In the second quarter, Kalinga Lancers tried to play some attacking shots but failed to produce any goal.The strikers of Dabang Mumbai also adopted the same game plan to built pressure on the host team. However, both the teams failed to open their accounts in the second quarter as well.

At the beginning of third quarter, Florian Fuchs gave the much-needed goal to the Dabang Mumbai when he produced a field goal in the 35^th minute giving their team a lead over the host team.

However, the Lancers were not ready to cede the match, particularly after a last minute defeat against Uttar Pradesh Wizards.

The Lancers levelled the score with a stunning field goal just before the end of third quarter when Adam Dixon cleverly deflected the ball direct to the goalpost.

Lancers took the lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter when Glenn Turner hit the ball past the goalkeeper. Captain Moritz Fuerste passed the ball to the Turner, and he successfully materialised it.