Sher-e-Jalandhar beat a fighting Maratha Warriors 3-0 via tie-breaker in a Tier I match of the Premier Hockey League (PHL) in Hyderabad on Saturday.
After both the teams failed to score in the regulation time and the extra time, Prabhdep Singh, Didar Singh and Gagan Ajit Singh found the net in the penalty shoot out while Raza Ali, Vijay Alfanso and Kashif Jawed bungled at the hour of reckoning for Maratha Warriors.
After the end of the regulation time of 70 minutes, the match went to the extra time -- the teams fielded nine players in the first half of the extra time and seven in the second half as per the rule of the tournament.
But that failed to break the deadlock prompting a penalty shoot-out.
The match between the two best sides in the event saw some tough fight as both have some very good mid-fielders and fine forwards.
When play started, Maratha Warriors galloped fast to the opposition goal post. But Jallanadhar team soon hit back with equal ferocity through Gagan Ajit, Baljit and Daljit Singh Dhillon.
Maratha custodian Baljit Singh, coming in for an injured Adrian D'Souza, was pick of the players as he made at least seven saves.
Jalandhar team missed out on several scoring opportunities with Baljit failing to convert an easy chance while Sunil Yadav could not capitalise from the passes to him inside the circle.
In the second quarter, the game slowed down a bit but in the next the teams intensified their attacks in a bid to take the lead.
In the 58th minutes Jalandhar team was reduced to 10 men with Prabdeep Singh being sent out by the umpire, but Maratha Warriors failed to make use of the chance.
Jalandhar earned three penalty corners while Warriors got two but neither could score.
Towards the end, both made valiant attempts but could not score as the match slipped into extra time.
