Defending champions Hyderabad Sultans notched a crucial victory over Chandigarh Dynamos, winning by a solitary goal in the Premier Hockey League in Chandigarh on Thursday.
The all-important goal for Sultans came in the fourth quarter, when Johnson Ekka passed the ball to an unmarked Shakeel Abbasi, who made no mistake, striking it into the net in the 63rd minute.
The winners showed good combination and stick work and made a number of attacks on the Dynamos goal.
While Sultans missed the two penalty-corners they forced, Dynamos could not earn a single penalty-corner.
With this win, Sultans joined Bangalore Lions and local favorites Chandigarh Dynamos at the top of the points table.
All the three teams are tied with 11 points each. This win also ensured that the defending champions would not be relegated to Tier II.
Chandigarh Dynamos, led by stand in captain Sukhbir Gill, missed the services of captain Rajpal Singh, who was on the bench because of an injury he sustained in a road accident recently.
The match belonged to Pakistani Shakeel Abbasi as he made several attempts on the rival citadel. However, in the first quarter Jorge Lombi gave a good pass to Abbasi in the circle but his reverse hit went off target.
The top goal scorer of the tournament so far, Didar Singh, failed to added to his goal tally after his drag-flick in the second quarter went in vain.
Chandigarh Dynamos missed a golden opportunity to take lead in the first half after a deflection from Mudassar Ali Khan was well stopped by Salman Akbar under the bar.
Sultans got a scare in the third quarter when a beautiful reverse shot from Shakeel Abbassi struck the crosspiece.
A commotion took place in the match after Dynamos' Jugraj Singh and Sultans' Devinder Singh had a verbal duel and the umpires had to caution captains of both the teams.
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