Rourkela, Jan 12: Hyderabad Toofans enjoyed a commanding win over the Vedanta Kalinga Lancers as they stormed to a 5-1 triumph (Gonzalo Peillat 6’ & 30’, Maico Casella 21’, Tim Brand 47’ and Arshdeep Singh 54’) in the Men’s Hockey India League clash at the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium in Rourkela on Sunday.

The Kalinga Lancers got off to a dream start as they opened the scoring in the fifth minute. The goal came via a textbook display of a penalty corner conversion as the injection came in perfectly for Alexander Hendrickx, who drilled his effort into the goal with a thunderous strike. However, their joy was short-lived as the Toofans struck back within a minute.

The goal came off the stick of seasoned veteran Gonzalo Piellat, who rifled his attempt past goalkeeper Krishan Pathak. Hendrickx nearly put the Kalinga Lancers’ lead in the eighth minute, but his strike bounced off the woodwork. The Lancers won a penalty corner in the last minute of the first quarter, but it did not amount to much as the two teams remained locked at 1-1.

The Toofans took the lead in astounding fashion in the 21st minute when Maico Casella scored one of the top contenders for the goal of the tournament. Zachary Wallace played a lovely diagonal aerial pass for Casella on the right flank and the Argentine fired a mindblowing shot on the volley, from the tightest of angles, into the roof of the net. The side from Hyderabad went on to score again in the final play of the second quarter as Peillat struck his second goal via yet another delightful dragflick.

The Toofans dominated the proceedings for large parts of the third quarter, but Thierry Brinkman came close to pulling one back for the Lancers in the 39th minute. He had a go at goal from a tight angle, similar to Casella, but could only find the side netting. Moments later, Hendrickx did well to convert a penalty corner as his strike beat the rushers and the goalkeeper, but ricocheted off the post.

Tim Brand also got on the scoresheet as he found the back of the net in the 47th minute to give the Hyderabad Toofans a comfortable 4-1 lead. Despite the massive lead, the Toofans didn’t take their foot off the pedal and were rewarded with a fifth goal in the 54th minute. The Lancers had taken off their goalkeeper in search of goals and Arshdeep Singh made the most of that by looping the ball into an empty net. That wrapped up the contest as the Toofans clinched an emphatic win and climbed to the second spot on the Men's Hockey India League standings.

--IANS

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