Egged on by the local crowd, Chennai Veerans cashed in on Spaniard Albert Casas' lone goal to earn three points against Chandigarh Dynamos in their Premier Hockey League match in Chennai on Wednesday night.
The result took Veerans' tally to six points from four matches.
With the midfielders playing to their potential and the defence providing good cover for goalkeeper Shreejesh, the local team took the game to the opposition with sporadic raids.
However, the Dynamos defenders, led by Jugraj Singh, were up to the task and denied the Veerans success till the 47th minute.
Though the first two quarters belonged to the local team, Dynamos forced three penalty-corners but were denied a goal thanks to Sreejesh showing good reflexes.
In the third quarter, Chennai Veerans pressed hard and the game was more or less played in the Dynamos' half and the pressure told in the end.
When the Dynamos failed to convert their fourth penalty-corner, Veerans launched a quick counter-attack.
Following a clearance from their circle, Veerans used short passes and Pramod Kumar, from the center, passed the ball to Somanna on the left. The latter dodged past Jaswinder Singh and Prabhjot Singh and moved towards the circle. With Casas Albert yelling for the ball from about 15 feet in front of the goal, he sent a through pass for the Spaniard, who had his back to the target, to take a reverse shot and sound the board.
The Chandigarh team was then forced to attack from both wings. With team manager Amarjit Singh taking frequent time-outs and bringing in Dutchman Bomans Balder, the frontline worked better but they could not find the equaliser.
At the other end, Chennai Veerans earned their second penalty-corner 10 minutes before the hooter but Raghuath's direct shot hit the upright and bounced back into play.