Punjab tame Mumbai in their den

Mumbai, February 12

Punjab Warriors stopped Dabang Mumbai’s resurgent run by inflicting a 5-1 defeat on the home team and climbed to the top of the table in the Hockey India League here today.

Punjab were 3-0 up after the first two quarters through penalty corner conversions. Varun Kumar (2nd minute), Mark Gleghorne (13th) and Christopher Ciriello (25th) were the scorers.

Later, Nithin Thimmiah hammered in a field goal in the 40th minute to virtually settle the issue as it opened up the lead to 5-0. A consolation goal came Mumbai’s way through a penalty corner when Jeremy Hayward found the mark.

Punjab, who went into the game after losing the last match to Uttar Pradesh Wizards, put up a dominating show right through the 60-minute match. They never let Mumbai, who had reignited their campaign with three successive wins after having suffered four straight losses earlier, settle down.

The lack of penalty-corner variations cost Mumbai in the very first minute of the game when they earned the set-piece but captain Matthew Swann did not stop the ball properly.

Punjab, on the other hand, converted their first two penalty corners to take a stranglehold on the game. — PTI