New Delhi Heroes, owned by the tournament sponsors and coached by former star player Chima Okerie, advanced to the second round of the Osian's Durand Cup qualifiers with a 3-1 victory over Bihar Regiment at the Ambedkar Stadium in Delhi on Thursday.
Goals from Harrison (7th minute), Havinder Sr (19th) and Havinder (58th) contributed to the Heroes' cause while M A Tudu got a consolation goal for Bihar Regiment with four minutes left.
The scoreline is a bit misleading though as, after the first 20 minutes or so which clearly belonged to the Heroes, the Regiment boys gave as good as they got but squandered several goal-scoring opportunities.
Heroes took the lead early in the game when Harrison received Havinder senior's cross from the left flank and found the net with a right-footer.
They doubled their lead soon after when a cross from the right by Amjad was met by Havinder Sr in the box and he made no mistake.
Heroes were right on top at the break and Havinder missed a golden chance soon after restart when he had only goalkeeper Ajay to beat from close range but could not.
As Bihar Regiment pushed more men forward to get back into the match, gaps appeared in the defence and Havinder frequently got behind the back line.
Mahto was unlucky in the 56th minute when his shot from the edge of the box came off the crossbar with Heroes' custodian Rashid well beaten.
Immediately at the other end, Havinder latched on to a long clearance from Amjad. He then dribbled past a defender and rounded off the keeper calmly to seal the result.
Even with the matter more or less decided, the Regiment boys kept on pressing and skipper P Debnath tested the keeper with several long-range attempts.
At the other end, a powerful volley from Gyan came off the woodwork.
Bihar Regiment finally got the goal they deserved when Tudu pushed home a free-kick from the right flank.
They squandered a good chance to get a second when Bisu Majhi hit over the target from close range during injury time.
Despite the victory, Chima was not satisfied with the performance of his team.
"The other team outplayed us and created several chances. We managed to win because of our good strikers," the Nigerian said.
"The only difference was that my forward line managed to convert the chances and theirs could not."
The defence also was lacklustre, he added.
"The defence did not perform well. I will have to get some defenders during the transfer window.
"The midfield also played like they were very tired. We had good preparation and good practice matches. But they did not perform today. We will have to play better in the next game against Indian National FC," Chima said.
G4S Hindustan Club take on 11 Grenadiers on Friday.
