Union Bank of India’s Sandeep Singh scored a hat-trick and guided his team to a 3-2 win against the experienced Western Railway (WR) in the Mumbai Hockey Championship here on Wednesday.
Both the teams got on the field and straight away went on an attack mode. WR were the first to open their account through a goal scored by Suresh in the 13th minute. However, Sandeep took the pressure off his teammates in the 20th minute by scoring the equaliser.
“This was a very competitive and tough game. Our coach told us that once inside the D, we must attempt the shot on the goal,” said 19-year-old Sandeep.
Another outstanding player for the bankers was Joshua Vessonkar. His tackling created many opportunities for his team. It was in the second half that most of the goals were scored.
Sandeep scored the other two goals through penalty corners.
“Even when leading 3-1, we couldn’t afford to relax because we knew that WR is a very good team and any mistake from our side, would cost us this match,” said Sandeep, who is from Sonipat (Haryana).
While UBI held on to their lead in the dying minutes, they had a lot of support from the spectators’ stand with many hoping and praying for the referee to blow the final whistle. They suffered a few tense moments when WR’s Manish Shahi scored their second goal in the 53rd minute. However, it proved to be a case of too little, too late.
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