Orissa Steelers scraped past Hyderabad Sultans by a solitary Dilip Tirkey goal, but the second phase match in the 2007 Premier Hockey League in Chennai failed to rise to any high standards.
Even with six foreign stars in the two teams, the match at the Mayor Radhakrishna stadium was eventful only in the sense that three players received yellow cards for 'unfair play.'
With this victory, Orissa Steelers have tallied eight points from four matches, while Hyderabad Sultans remain at three from as many games.
Indian captain Dilip Tirkey made good use of his team's third penalty-corner in the 69th minute.
Birendra Lakra pushed the ball. Jitender Saroha could not get a good look at the goal and pushed back to Bimal Lakra, who relayed the ball to Tirkey on the left. Tirkey darted in and sounded the boards to seal the winner.
Neither teams able to find the target during the first hour of play. The Sultans missed their two penalty-corners as against the one by the Orissa team.
Five minutes into the fourth quarter, heated exchanges erupted between the two teams. Orissa Steelers' Dutchman Tjeerd Steller had a cut on his upper lip in a melee near the goalmouth when Sultans' defender Saranjit Singh raised his stick. Steller was seen arguing with umpire Mohammad Muneer, who showed the yellow card to Saranjit Singh.
Within minutes, two Pakistani players were involved in a similar incident and Adnan Zakir (Steelers) was hauled up by Mohd Muneer for an attack on his compatriot Tariq Aziz (Hyderabad Sultans). Both culprits were on their respective benches for the rest of the match.
