Bangla team keeps cool in sudden death

In the end, it was all a matter of resilience in the face of tension. The Nehru Junior Hockey final between Bangladesh Institute of Sports a...

In the end, it was all a matter of resilience in the face of tension. The Nehru Junior Hockey final between Bangladesh Institute of Sports and Lyallpur Khalsa Senior Secondary School, Punjab, was a keen contest all right but the two goalkeepers had to bear the brunt.

After 85 minutes of play, including 15 minutes of extra time, the teams remained goalless and it came to the shootout situation.

But it ended in 4-all scenario at the end of tiebreaker and the title had to be decided in sudden death. Even as the Punjab captain failed to score, the Bangladesh captain netted in.

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The game saw the teams lacking in finishing power. The Punjab side won six penalty corners while their opponents three and both failed to convert even once. No doubt, the Bangladeshi defence held strong with its goalie putting in a good effort under the bar. Punjab coach Ripu Daman Singh admitted as much: “We were bad in our finishing, specially when it came to penalty corners.’’

Punjab dominated the first half but it was not good enough to fetch them a goal. The second session was no different. When the extra time was introduced, the teams contend playing it safe and it resulted in shootout.

For the home side, Prem Kumar, Ashok Kumar, Lakhwinder Singh and Jagdeep scored while Mohd Enamul Kabir, Mohd Mukitul Islam, Mohd Musharrof Hussain and Mohd Mamunur were on target for Bangladesh.