Hockey India League: Bengal Tigers maintain two 100 percent records – three wins out of three, all 9 goals scored by Indians

Remarkably, the tournament’s most prolific team so far, the Tigers have seen all of their 9 goals scored by Indian players. Sukhjeet Singh (1′), Jugraj Singh (17′, 38′) and Abhishek (47′) were on the scoresheet on Saturday night at the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium in Rourkela. Delhi’s consolation goal came in the 53rd minute, thanks to Gareth Furlong’s drag flick but by then the damage was done. And a bulk of that was once again caused by the Tigers’ superb Indian core.

Battle between Aussie masterminds

This was a battle between two Aussie masterminds on the sidelines, former Kookaburras coach Colin Batch and former India coach Graham Reid. Batch’s Tigers often played with the pace that his Kookaburras were known for while Reid was left ruing his side’s basic errors for most part of the first half. What would have disappointed Delhi – a team mentored by Indian legend PR Sreejesh – was also the performance of their goalkeepers with both Pawan and Ben Rennie conceding from avoidable situations.

Affan’s early burst that set up Sukhjeet ensured that Delhi were on the back foot from the word go, but Pawan’s positioning was off as he conceded at his near post that he should have had covered. Jugraj then scored early in the 2nd quarter as well, his powerful drag flick sneaked past Rennie and the man on post. It was a strong hit with good placement but between the rushers and the last line, it was misread on defence.

Soon, the trio of Abhishek-Affan-Sukhjeet nearly combined for a superb field goal. Abhishek won possession back from a mishit pass in the midfield and released Sukhjeet down the right, who hit a brilliant early crossfield pass. But the pace on it meant Affan couldn’t bring it under control quickly enough. Tigers were proving irresistible in attack at this point.

When Delhi did try to force the tempo and won a couple of penalty corners towards the end of the half, Irish goalkeeper Jamie Carr was up to the task, once saving a powerful flick with his chest.

Despite the 2-0 lead at halftime, Batch wasn’t happy and actually said Delhi were playing better and the high press was putting his team under pressure. Reid too, for his part, was unhappy because he said the basics were letting his team down, and simple things like ball speed on a pass weren’t good.

In Q3, Jugraj moved to the top of the goalscorer’s table with this third goal of the tournament as he beat the goalkeeper (Pawan this time) to his right at a saveable height. It was another goal that’d have disappointed Sreejesh.

If there was any hope of a final quarter fightback, it was quickly doused by the Tigers. Abhishek got the goal that his overall play deserved, set up for a tap-in by Florent van Aubel.

Later, Team Gonasika registered their first outright win of the tournament as they beat Hyderabad Toofans 3-1. The second match of the day too witnessed a lightning-fast start as SV Sunil put Gonasika in the lead after just 90 seconds. At half time, despite being the much better side in the first two quarters, Gonasika found themselves drawing the game 1-1 as Toofans hit back through a scrappy Tim Brand (12`) goal. But Victor Charlet (33`) and Nilam Sanjeep Xess (60`) scored either end of the second half as Manpreet Singh’s side moved to third in the table.