Pune: Nikkin Thimmaiah fired in two goals in the space of two minutes as Pune Strykers defeated Mumbai Marines 4-2 in the World Series Hockey [WSH] here on Friday.
Young and talented, Thimmaiah hogged the limelight with his double strike (43rd and 45th minutes) after the match was tantalisingly poised at 2-2.
Banmali Xess (15th) and Troy Sutherland (27th), working hard upfront, grabbed the half chances that came their way to account for the goals Mumbai scored. But Gurpeet Singh (28th) and Mario Almada (34th) restored parity in the second quarter, leaving Thimmaiah to showcase his skills for a fluent win.
Both teams, who lost their previous two encounters and were in dire need of a win, started cautiously. After full-back Ajmer Singh blunted many a Pune attack, Xess' opportunism titled the scales in favour of Mumbai at the end of first quarter.
Standing close to the goalie, he turned a bit before deflecting a freewheeling hit-in that rose high and found the left top corner of the net.
Troy Sutherland sent in a reverse-stick push from the top of the circle and Aijub Ekka intercepted its trajectory to deflect it to the right of the goalie for Mumbai's second goal.
Egged on by the sizeable home crowd, Pune staged a comeback within no time. Gurpreet struck from the first penalty corner. His drag-flick hit Clyde Abraham's stick on the right end of the goal, took an ugly inward turn towards the other end of the goal and landed inside.
Five minutes later, Roshan Minz pounced on a loose ball and promptly passed it to Mario Almada. The Argentine crouched low to send a diagonal grounder.
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