Men’s HIL: Dragons scrape past Toofans in opener

Midfielder Mohammed Raheel kept his composure, waited for goalkeeper Jean-Paul Danneburg to commit, and calmly rolled the ball past him to help Tamil Nadu Dragons edge Hyderabad Toofans 4-2 in the shootout after the teams were locked 3-3 at the end of regulation time in the inaugural match of the Men’s Hockey India League at the SDAT-Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here on Saturday.

Michel Struthoff and Talwinder Singh missed their attempts for Toofans in the shootout. Dragons’ goalkeeper Prince Deep Singh, who replaced an impressive David Harte for the tiebreaker, produced a crucial save to deny Talwinder.

Dream start

Dragons had raced to a 2-0 lead in the first quarter with two quick goals. Uttam Singh opened the scoring by deflecting in a penalty-corner variation, before Thomas Sorsby produced a brilliant 25-yard run and finished emphatically past the goalkeeper.

Toofans responded through Amandeep Lakra, who struck twice with two clean and precise drag-flicks.

Striker Selvam Karthi put the host back in the lead with an opportunistic finish, but defender Arthur De Sloover restored parity with a superb goal from a tight angle that caught Harte by surprise.

In the absence of injured drag-flick ace Gonzalo Peillat, the responsibility fell on Amandeep, and the 23-year-old rose to the occasion. However, Toofans were unable to get going in the shootout. For the Dragons, the foreign contingent played a decisive role across the midfield, defence and attack, delivering key interventions at crucial moments.

The contest was billed as the one between Dragons’ fluency in open play against the Toofans’ strength in penalty corners, and it lived up to expectation.

The result: Tamil Nadu Dragons 3 (Uttam Singh 4-pc, Thomas Sorsby 9, Selvam Karthi 32) drew with Hyderabad Toofans 3 (Amandeep Lakra 12-pc & 18-pc, Arthur De Sloover 37). Dragons won the shootout 4-2.