Bangalore Lions thrashed local favourites Chandigarh Dynamos 4-2 in the first of the best-of-three finals of the Premier Hockey League match in Chandigarh on Monday night.
It turned out to be a one-sided match as the Lions played attacking hockey and raided the citadel of the rivals several times.
Lions were ahead of Dynamos 4-0 at the halftime. However, the Dynamos reduced the margin in the last quarter of the match by scoring two goals.
For the winners, Pakistani player Rehan Butt, who showed exemplary stick work in the match, put the ball in the rivals net after dodging two players. Butt's powerful reverse shot settled in the goal in the 16th minute of the match.
The Lions raised their tempo in the second quarter of the game and converted as many as three goals in the period.
In-form penalty corner specialist Len Aiyappa made no mistake in converting the two corners, which Lions got in the second quarter of the game. Aiyappa's drag-flick sounded the board in the 20 and 31st minute of the game.
Lions captain Arjun Halappa gave a beautiful pass to Rehan Butt who pushed the ball towards unmarked Tushar Khandekar who made no mistake in netting the ball.
After halftime Ignace Tirkey, Sandeep Michael and Hari Prasad of Lions combined well and stepped up the offensive but failed to score.
Aging Sabu Varkey's direct shy was well defended by Dynamos goalkeeper Baljit Singh in the last stages of the third quarter.
The Dynamos reduced the margin when Jugraj Singh converted a penalty corner in the 55th minute.
In the dying stage of the match, Dynamos mounted pressure on Lions. A goal by unmarked Deepak Thakur was disallowed by umpire Shakeel Qureshi as the player had dangerously raised his stick in front of the goal before shooting the ball in the nets.
Towards the close of the game Sandeep Singh of Dynamos gave a good pass to Inderjit Singh Chadha who made no mistake in putting the ball in the nets.
Tomorrow both the teams will be meeting for the second of the finals.
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