Ranchi, Jan 13 (PTI) Jugraj Singh scored his first hat-trick of the season to ensure a commanding 5-3 win for Sharchi Bengal Tigers against Accord Tamil Nadu Dragons in the Men’s Hockey India League here on Tuesday.
This was an important win for Tigers who were placed seventh in the pool table before this match but jumped to fourth position with this result to keep their hopes alive in the league.
While Jugraj became only the second player to get a hat-trick after Kane Rusell from HIL GC, goals from Sukhjeet (33′) and Abhishek (55′) helped the Tigers clinch a winner. Adrohit Ekka (36′), Thomas Sorsby (48′) and Blake Govers (51′) scored for the Dragons.
Defending champions Shrachi Bengal Tigers were quick to get off the blocks with Abhishek creating the first real shot on goal but didn’t quite find success.
However, an infringement while defending saw Accord Tamil Nadu Dragons give away a penalty stroke in the 11th minute.
Jugraj Singh, who was the top scorer from the previous edition, was up against the legendary David Harte in the goalpost.
He kept the ball low and fierce to beat Harte.
The 1-0 lead put the Tigers in good stead. Though the second quarter was goalless with Dragons trying their best to equalise with Uttam Singh leading the charge, there was not much they could gain from the attempts.
Tigers’ coach Valentin Altenburg was not a happy man at half-time, expressing that his team could get “a lot of things right” in this match and they seemed to do exactly that in the third quarter which they began with a sensational goal by Sukhjeet Singh.
It was a good combination between Tommy Willems and Abhishek which was eventually finished well by Sukhjeet. This took Tigers’ lead to 2-0.
Though Dragons found a breakthrough in the 36th minute when Adrohit scored from a penalty corner, the quarter belonged to Tigers with two back-to-back goals coming from Jugraj who completed his hat-trick with the 43rd and 45th minute strikes. PTI AH AH TAP
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.