The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : Dynamos enters final

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Monday, Jan 30, 2006

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Sport - Hockey

Dynamos enters final

Special Correspondent

CHANDIGARH: The slap push proved fatal for Dhanraj Pillay and Maratha Warriors. On the first occasion it paved the way for Maratha Warriors to snatch the lead but the second time it allowed Chandigarh Dynamos the escape route and the home team finished the contest in style with a 3-1 victory in the ESPN Premier Hockey League here on Saturday.

With 14 points to its credit, Chandigarh Dynamos stormed into the final, while Maratha Warriors, with an aggregate of eight points, was relegated to the second division for the next year's edition.

The league stage will conclude on Sunday when Bangalore Lions and Sher-e-Jallandhar clash for a place in the final. Jallandhar, with 10 points, needs to win but Bangalore, sitting pretty with 12 points, can progress provided it does not lose during the regulation period since it enjoys a superior goal difference.

The Maratha-Chandigarh contest had the trappings of a thriller but the excitement centred around the controversy that erupted in the fourth quarter following an attack led by Pillay.

Pillay walks out

From a goal melee, the Maratha claimed a goal and protested umpire Raghu Prasad's decision to award a penalty corner. With Pillay staging a walkout, things came to a standstill.

Mr. Prasad, a competent official, stuck to his decision, having blown for a penalty corner. The Maratha camp insisted the ball had crossed the goalline but the umpires did not relent to the pressure tactics. The game was held up for 10 minutes before sanity prevailed in the Maratha team, which took the field without Pillay, who took no further part in the remaining 11 minutes.

The Maratha team's frustration was understandable. It had taken the lead in the first quarter when Vijay Alphonso deflected a slap push by Pillay. With Sunil Yadav working hard in the midfield, Maratha earned a few chances but failed to finish.

Pillay remained in the picture with some innovative play. With Chandigarh not able to hang on to the ball, the Maratha Warriors enjoyed greater supremacy but a combined move by Imran Khan and Deepak Thakur allowed Inderjit Chadha the opportunity to deflect the ball for the equaliser.

And then a lethargic move by Pillay proved costly. His weak push was blocked by Mudassar Ali Khan and Thakur finished the counterattack by slipping the ball between goalkeeper Adrian D'Souza's pads. The Dynamos had scored against the run of play and Warriors was not the same outfit as the contest degenerated into needless rough play and a controversy born more out of Pillay's histrionics and his team's insistence on referring the matter to the third umpire than an error on the part of the umpire. The Dynamos sealed the issue when Mudassar scored with 11 minutes left following a good move by Thakur and Tejbir. A crowd of 15,000 watched the encounter.

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