Maratha Warriors score second win

A fine all-round display by Shivendra Singh enabled Maratha Warriors register their second consecutive victory in the Premier Hockey League on Saturday night.

They beat Sher-E-Jalandhar 2-0 in a Tier-I match at the Sector 42 hockey stadium in Chandigarh.

The Warriors, who earned three points from today's victory to top the table with six points, were charged up right from the beginning.

The first quarter was a high-voltage one with both teams trying desperately to achieve the first breakthrough. For the Warriors, L de Bruijn of the Netherlands got a chance early on, but could not position himself well to execute a precise hit.

While old warhorse Dhanraj Pillay, instrumental in his team's first victory over defending champions Hyderabad Sultans, guided the younger lot, it was Shivendra who created many good moves.

Shivendra made an excellent move on the right flank in the 22nd minute and fed 20-year-old Pakistani Adnan Zakir. The player from Karachi positioned himself well to hit the ball past goalkeeper Maninder Singh.

In the fourth quarter, Shivendra scored a spectacular shot to take his team to victory. However, the Warriors failed to score from the two penalty-corners that came their way.

Sher-E-Jalandhar, with huge support from the crowd who braved the intense cold wave to cheer the Punjab team, could not utilise any of the five penalty-corners they earned. One of their sure shot chances to score off a penalty-corner was brilliantly foiled by Warriors' skipper Viren Rasquinha.

Under pressure after conceding lead to the Warriors, Sher-e-Jalandhar never seemed to get into the act and only tried to make some desperate moves towards the end.

Their woes increased after Pakistan's Mohammed Saqlain of was shown red card by umpire Satendra Sharma when the player threw his stick expressing his dissent over a decision.