Chandigarh beat Pune 4-3 in WSH match

Chandigarh: Canadian import Sukhwinder Singh Gabbar scored of a penalty stroke in the dying moments to help hosts Chandigarh Comets eke out a thrilling 4-3 victory over Pune Strykers in a high-voltage match of the World Series Hockey (WSH) on Monday.

Going into the fourth and final quarter 3-3, both teams were looking to score but couldn`t make any breath thorough. But barely few seconds before the final hooter, a penalty stroke came Chandigarh`s way and Sukhwinder made no mistake. The Pune team made an aggressive start and pumped three goals in first eight minutes of the opening quarter. Damandeep Singh deflected a pass from Ajitesh Roy in the 3rd minute of the first quarter and in the 6th minute Simrandeep Singh scored from a penalty corner. In the 8th minute, Gurpreet Singh made it 3-0 up after Chandigarh`s Gurjinder Singh pushed Pune`s Damandeep resulting in penalty stroke being awarded. However, Chandigarh were waiting to take revenge and their skipper and Pakistan international Rehan Butt scored in the 14th minute finishing off a good attack from the left flank involving his teammate Gabbar. Despite being 1-3 down, local favourites Chandigarh again playing before a thin home crowd fought back strongly and dominated the second quarter, with Gurjinder Singh scoring for them in the 16th minute from a penalty corner. At half-time, Chandigarh was a goal down, but in the 3rd minute of the third quarter, Gabbar scored the equaliser. The final quarter saw some desperation from both sides to score, but each frittered away couple of golden chances that came their way. Chandigarh failed to capitalize on the two penalty corners they got in the fourth quarter, while Pune also failed to score from the one they got. From their nine matches so far, Chandigarh have won five, while Pune have won three from equal number of matches. PTI