Mumbai were in pole position to clinch the tie but a late goal by Talwinder Singh snatched the match away from their grasp just four minutes before the final hooter.
Delhi Waveriders (DW) climbed to the top of the table with a thrilling 4-3 victory over Dabang Mumbai (DM) in the 11th match of the Hockey India League (HIL), played at the Mahindra Hockey Stadium in Mumbai on Friday. Mumbai were in pole position to clinch the tie but a late goal by Talwinder Singh snatched the match away from their grasp just four minutes before the final hooter.
The first quarter burst into life when Danish Mujtaba almost put DM ahead as he dodged past a few DW players and smashed the ball straight into the pads of goalkeeper Devon Manchester. However, contrary to the run of play, Waveriders went ahead in the eighth minute via a penalty corner conversion by specialist Rupinder Pal Singh who blasted the ball in the roof of the net.
Being a goal down, the hosts pressed hard and experienced Australian defender Matthew Swann cleverly brought a long ball down in the box and crossed for his teammates but it hit the leg of an opponent resulting in a penalty corner for Mumbai. Harmanpreet failed to convert the golden opportunity and the score line remained 1-0 in favour of DW.
Egged on by the partisan crowd at Mahindra Hockey Stadium, Mumbai went ahead in the 12th minute and that too by a couple of goals when German striker Florian Fuchs got in the D and sounded the board by placing the ball past the outstretched right leg of Manchester. According to the new rules of HIL, two strikes are awarded for field goals while one accrues for penalty corner conversions.
The second quarter started with the Blue Brigade ahead by 2-1 and they could have extended the lead had Harmanpreet not failed to convert the two penalty corners. It was end to end action as Mandeep Singh of Waveriders rounded up Mumbai custodian David Harte and pushed the ball towards the open goal, only to find it getting cleared by a Mumbai defender.
Mumbai's best chance of the period came in the 27th minute when Affan Yousuf placed himself perfectly in the box and unleashed a powerful reverse flick, but it was brilliantly saved by Manchester. Thus, the score line remained 2-1 in Mumbai's favour till the end of the half.
The third quarter was all about waste of penalty corners. Harmanpreet missed two for the hosts while Rupinder failed to get his golden touch on four occasions. However, the Delhi defender equalised in the 35th minute after the visitors had won the TV umpire referral for a PC. Rupinder took aim and placed his shot to the right of the goalkeeper to the utter disappointment of the fans who.
The last quarter was action-packed as Fuchs secured a penalty stroke in the 55th minute and Harmanpreet converted it to take Mumbai ahead by 3-2, but in the very next minute callous defending by DM allowed Talwinder to fire home the winner from close range as he managed to get at the end of a cross from Benjamin Stanzl. Mumbai were awarded a penalty corner in the final seconds of the game, but they tried a horrendous stick combination and wasted the opportunity.
At the end of the day, half a dozen penalty corners missed by Harmanpreet proved to be the deciding factor of the encounter.The hosts who haven't won a single game in the tourney, stayed rooted to the bottom of the table with three points while Waveriders rocketed to the top with 16 points in their bag.
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