Sher-e-Jalandhar rout Chennai Veerans

Riding on three quick goals in the first quarter, Sher-e-Jaladhar blanked Chennai Veerans 5-0 in a Tier I match of the Premier Hockey League in Hyderabad on Friday.

Deepak Thakur gave Sher-e-Jaladhar a flying start with a goal in the very first minute of the match before Gagan Ajit Singh showed his class, slamming home in the seventh and eighth minutes to give the side a huge lead in the first quarter itself.

Baljit Singh Dhillon (33rd minute) and Prabjot Singh (58th) then added to the tally in the one-sided match as Veerans crashed to their third defeat in as many matches.

Sher-e-Jalandhar registered their second victory in three matches after a defeat in their opening match.

The Jalandhar players surprised the men from the south in the first minute, with Deepak Thakur tapping the ball into an open goal after the necessary spade work was done by Prabjot Singh from the deep.

A reverse flick by Prabjot Singh was deflected into the box by skipper Gagan Ajit Singh six minutes later as Jalandhar took a 2-0 lead. Gagan again struck in the next minute with a hard hit from top of the circle to swell the lead further.

Chennai Veerans stepped up the attack with captain Ignace Tirkey, Sandeep Singh and Adam Sinclair trying to penetrate the opponents' citadel but they failed to create an impression.

Sher-e-Jalandhar could have added one more goal to the tally but Dhillon's attempt from a penalty-stroke was disallowed by the umpire on the grounds that the player had dragged the ball too long before taking the flick.

Dhillon did strike back in the 33rd minute through a drag flick to put his side in a comfortable 4-0 lead.

Jalandhar had one more moment of celebration when Prabjot Singh, after receiving a short pass from Deepak Thakur inside the circle, gently directed the ball beat Veerans' goalkeeper Devesh Chouhan.

In the Tier II tournament, Chandigarh Dynamos blanked Bengal Tigers 7-0 to remain at the top of the table with 12 points.

Rajpal Singh scored twice (4th and 27th minutes) while Jugraj Singh (10th), Harbajan Singh (25th), Navdeep Singh (40th), Sardar Singh (54th) and Ravi Pal Singh (69th) pumped in a goal each as Chandigarh recorded their fourth win on the trot.

In another match in the second division, Lucknow Nawabs beat Impahl Rangers 4-3.

Lucknow Nawabs were benefited from the mistake made by their opponents, whose forward Gopal Singh wasted a penalty stroke in the third quarter.

Amit Kumar (9th), Mohammed Kalim (22nd), Arshad Khan (40th and 51st) found the net for Lucknow Nawabs while H Tomba Singh (20th) and skipper Brojen Singh (41st and 57th) scored for Imphal Rangers.