Hi-Fliers files past Dynamos to stay afloat

Hi-Fliers' Korean import You Hyo-sik aided his team with a brace and rightly rewarded with man of the match award for his outstanding performance

Spirited Bangalore Hi-Fliers team put up a brilliant comeback after trailing down from two goals to score a hard fought 4-2 victory over Chandigarh Dynamos in the second final to stay afloat in title hunt, forcing the third final in the best-of-three finals, of the 4th Premier Hockey League (PHL) played at the Sector 42 Hockey Stadium here on Wednesday.

Local favourites, Dynamos won the first final 3-2 on Monday and were looking to seal the issue here itself but Hi-Fliers showed some great fighting spirit and drew levels. Both the teams will now fight it out on Friday to seal the fourth edition of the PHL championship in their favour after a day's rest.

Dynamos started the proceedings on an attacking note and earned their first penalty corner with in a minute of the start but they squandered the early opportunity, as the push wasn't properly stopped during the penalty corner.

However, Dynamos took the lead in the 10th minute. Rajpal Singh pushed the ball to S S Gill in the midfield and the latter sent a through ball into the circle. Bangalore defender Len Aiyappa trapped the ball but groped with his hit and alert Dynamos' striker Deepak Thakur got hold of the ball in a flash and shot home to surprise Bharat Chetri in the Bangalore goal.

Dynamos doubled their lead in the 22nd minute as Dynamos' Pakistani import Zeeshan Ashraf gained control from a scoop by Hi-Fliers' Len Aiyappa and quickly found Inderjit Singh in the midfield. Inderjit gave a through pass to skipper Rajpal Singh inside the circle, who instantly slammed the ball that flew past rival custodian into the net.

Setting aside the unnerving pressure of two goals, Hi-Fliers got their act together and drew one back a minute later to make it 2-1. They earned their third short corner with rival custodian Baljit Singh blocked Len Aiyappa's low drag-flick while vigilant Tushar Khandekar passed the rebound to Sandeep Michael who found the target without any fuss.

Bangalore launched countless raids after scoring a goal and persisted to mount pressure in the rival citadel. Their repeated raids got them the equaliser in the 32nd minute through a spectacular field goal by their Korean import You Hyo Sik, who scored two goals for hi-Fliers in the match.

Arjun Halappa initiated the move and gave it to Tushar Khandekar. Tushar dodged past of his marker and passed it to Hari Prasad in the circle. Hari took a shot but the rebound from the goalkeeper came back to him and You Hyo Sik deflected his weak second attempt home from near the post.

You Hyo Sik struck again in similar fashion in the 42nd minute, this time deflecting from hand-shaking distance near the far past after Tushar Khandekar put him in.

Thereafter, Dynamos tried hard to restore parity but Hi-Fliers continued to attack. Their efforts paid dividends as they took the match out of Dynamos' hands in the 61st minute as S. V. Sunil rounded off his team's tally to make it 4-2.