Sher-e-Jalandhar pulled off a thrilling 3-2 victory via the tie-breaker, but it was not enough to stop Bangalore Lions from sneaking into the Premier Hockey League finals on Sunday.
Jalandhar, fourth in the table with a tally of 10 points before the match, needed an outright win in regulation time from the last league encounter to get past the Lions and Hyderabad Sultans, who had 13 and 12 points respectively.
The victory would have still tied the two teams on points but Jalandhar would have progressed by virtue of a better goal average.
As it was, the Lions grabbed a point despite ending on the losing side as they pushed the match into a shoot-out and thereby advanced to the finals.
The Lions, with a final tally of 14 points, will take on Chandigarh Dynamos, who too have the same number of points to their credit.
Jalandhar and Bangalore were level 1-1 at the end of full time and the extra-time session failed to break the deadlock.
For the winners, Kanwalpreet Singh, Harpal Singh and Ajmer Singh scored the goals in tie-breaker while Sandeep Michael and Len Aiyappa netted the ball for the Lions.
