Dabang Mumbai suffered a narrow 3-4 loss to Delhi Waveriders in their first home match, which swung more than a pendulum. Rupinder Pal Singh scored either side of Florian Fuchs’ field goal, while Harmanpreet Singh’s penalty stroke counted only as a consolation after Talwinder Singh scored a fiel goal 4 minutes from time.
Jay Stacy made two changes from the last match with Jeremy Hayward and Affan Yousuf coming in for Andrew Philpott and Diwakar Ram. Cedric D’Souza started with their star drag-flick specialist Rupinder Pal Singh and captain Simon Child leading the line for their fourth consecutive away match.
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The Alphas made the first circle penetration in the game with Danish Mujtaba finding himself in loads of space right inside the circle, but his shot was saved with ease by the Waveriders goalkeeper, Devon Manchester. The visitors made a few entries in Dabang Mumbai’s penalty area and were finally awarded a penalty corner for their efforts in the 8th minute, which Rupinder converted brilliantly to give the visitors the lead.
GOAL! 8’ Dabang Mumbai 0-1 Delhi Waveriders; Rupinder Pal Singh (PC)
3 minutes later, the Alphas won a penalty corner of their own, but Harmanpreet’s flick was deflected out of play by the on-rushing defender. Dabang Mumbai demanded a referral for a foot foul, but the replays showed otherwise and the home team lost their referral. In the very next minute, Florian Fuchs got away from his defender with a well-disguised fake, before unleashing a deadly shot to give the home team the lead.
GOAL! 12’ Dabang Mumbai 2-1 Delhi Waveriders; Florian Fuchs (FG)
The only major action in the rest of the quarter saw Dylan Wotherspoon receive a green card. 3 minutes into the second quarter, the team in blue won another penalty corner, but the visitors had done their homework on Harmanpreet and the ball went out for a long corner. The Waveriders had a brilliant chance to regain their lead in 20th minute, when Talwinder Singh beat David Harte and pushed the ball in the goal, but Harmanpreet Singh used his pace well and stopped the ball from hitting the board and keep his side in the lead.
In the 24th minute, Gurjant Singh did well to get away from his man before sending in a dangerous cross. Unfortunately for the 21-year-old, the ball eluded all of his teammates and rolled out of play. The rest of the half saw both teams try hard, but both the defences stood resolute as the home team kept their lead at the half-time break.
HT: Dabang Mumbai 2-1 Delhi Waveriders
A topsy-turvy second half
With both teams holding down their fort, it took a little over 6 minutes for either team to get in the opposition circle. But, the chances came by the dozen for the visitors as they won 3 back to back penalty corners. They were third time lucky as Rupinder levelled the score after dragging his shot to Harte’s left after two failed attempts to notch his 6th goal of the tournament.
GOAL! 39’ Dabang Mumbai 2-2 Delhi Waveriders; Rupinder Pal Singh (PC)
Two minutes later, Delhi Waveriders won another penalty corner, but this time Harte was up to the task as he went down early to save it well. However, a foul in the circle was referred by Simon Child and the visitors were awarded their fifth drag flick of the quarter(!), which was saved again by the Irishman. The home side were given their sixth penalty corner in the final minute of the quarter, but the trap was not up to the mark as the visitors escaped right before the hooter sounded.
5 minutes into the final quarter, captain Matthew Swann went on an enterprising run to enter the Waveriders’ circle, but his resulting cross was deemed dangerous by the umpire. 2 minutes later, Wotherspoon was shown a yellow card and the visitors given another penalty corner. A good run from Hayward denied Rupinder a hat-trick and a couple of minutes showed his skill in the other half from a penalty corner, which was won expertly by Gurjant.
Fuchs deflected Hayward’s flick, but it was blocked on the line and the Alphas won a penalty stroke. Harmanpreet stepped up and sent Manchester the wrong way to restore the home team’s lead.
GOAL! 54’ Dabang Mumbai 3-2 Delhi Waveriders; Harmanpreet Singh (PS)
Before the home team could finish celebrating, Talwinder Singh scored a field goal after he was left free right in front of goal.
GOAL! 56’ Dabang Mumbai 3-4 Delhi Waveriders; Talwinder Singh (FG)
The home team had a chance to level the score when they won a penalty corner in the final minute. They, bravely, went for the win and played the ball back to score 2 field goals. However, despite their best attempts, they were unable to go through the unwavering Delhi defence and the match ended with a narrow loss for the home team.
FT: Dabang Mumbai 3-4 Delhi Waveriders
