Defending champions Orissa Steelers stumbled to their second surprise defeat in the Premier Hockey League today, with a 0-2 loss to hosts Chandigarh Dynamos in the fifth match played at Hockey Stadium, Sector 42.The Chandigarh Dynamos forward line played fast, skilful hockey and kept the Steelers on the backfoot for most of the first two quarters of the game. Ace Indian forward Prabhjot Singh latched onto a wonderful cross from Rajpal Singh, timing his run to the D perfectly and slotting the ball to the top right hand corner, past the outstretched hands of Steelers’ goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh in the third minute.While seasoned campaigners such as Sukhbir Singh Grewal, Jaswinder Singh and Deepak Thakur manned the midfield well, Prabhjot had the experience and guile to be the difference between the two teams. The second quarter saw the Steelers stepping up their attack. They even came close to getting the equaliser when Roshan Minz guided a Prabodh Tirkey shot off a penalty corner, straight into the goal. But umpire Raghu Prasad disallowed the goal as he ruled that the ball was higher than 18 inches when the shot was taken. Ignace and Prabodh Tirkey then got some bite into the Steelers’ attack, but the pressure soon fizzled out as a lapse by Steelers’ goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh saw Prabhjot Singh stretching his stick to score the second goal for Chandigarh Dynamos in the 52nd minute.Earlier in the day, Hyderabad Sultans stunned last year’s finalists Sher-e-Jalandhar, inflicting a 3-0 defeat on the star studded side. Pawal Lakra scored a brace. Sultans were denied a goal by the third umpire in the second half. After Didar Singh deflected a Pramod Singh cross into the goal, Sher-e-Jalandhar players protested and umpire VB Singh referred it to the third umpire who overruled the decision. Pawal Lakra scored in the 43rd and 59th minutes. Diwakar Ram completed the tally converting a penalty corner.
