Bangalore Lions registered their first win in the Premier Hockey League this season when they outplayed Sher-e-Jallandhar 2-0 in a floodlit encounter at the Sector 42 stadium in Chandigarh on Saturday night.
Both the goals came in the second quarter. In the 12th minute of the period, the Lions' Pakistani import Rehan Butt gave his team the lead when he diverted a pass with a soft-flick into the post.
Three minutes later, Tushar Khandekar managed to dodge three players and passed the ball to Sandeep Michael who made no mistake to seal the result.
The Shers now have just three points from four matches as against the four points earned by the Lions from their two encounters.
The Jallandhar team, which looked erratic and failed to trap the ball on several occasions, made a mess of the few chances they got.
They got as many as three penalty corners in succession in the third quarter and one of them had to be referred to the third umpire, but nothing came off them.
Pakistani umpire Haidar Rasool consulted the third umpire when a direct hit from Sher's Kanwalpreet Singh hit the goal post above the permissible height of 18 inches. As a result, the TV umpire disallowed the goal.
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It went worse for the Shers when they had to play with just ten players for a period in the match. Harpal Singh was shown a yellow card when his stick hit the face of Bangalore Lions' Hari Prasad in the second quarter.
The crowds were disappointed by the show put on by the local favourites. One of the supporters threw a stone inside the playing area which prompted a tournament official and Sher's captain Gagan Ajit Singh to request them to maintain their composure.
For the Lions, Bharat Chetri made some good saves and in the tenth minute of the third quarter thwarted a near certain goal from Prabhjot Singh.
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