Down by two goals well into the second half against much older and experienced opponents of the men’s second team of Hurley THC of Holland, at Amstelveen in the outskirts of Amsterdam , the Dar Hockey Academy ’s colts staged a remarkable recovery. They equalised both the goals only to find themselves into the arrears again. The youngsters from Pakistan won everyone’s hearts by scoring the third goal with just three minutes left.
The strong Hurley THC,s second Men’s team recently won the main reserve league of their country. They were further boasted by the inclusion of five first team players.
The game began on the fast pace with the Dar HA making early inroads and fetching two penalty corners in the first 10 minutes without availing them. Hurley also managed to enter the opponents’ circle but failed to make an attempt at the goal. The game slowed down a bit for the next 7-8 minutes. Then the hosts picked up the momentum and mostly called the shots until the first hooter. They made quite a few penetrations into the scoring zone and also earned a couple of PCs but couldn’t find the target. Dar HA also had a couple of good tries at the goal. However, it remained scoreless.
Immediately on the restart, a wonderful opportunistic goal by Rakhal Stol off a quickly taken hit put the Hurly ahead. The visitors reacted immediately and had three chances over the next five minutes. A penalty corner was squandered due to a horrible drill. Then a fine flick from Sikander from the dee top was palmed away by the net minder. A goal labelled cross by Salman couldn’t be trapped by two strikers. At the other end, after a bout of neat and short passes, Hurley’s Chris Stroboer doubled the lead at the eighth minute. The very next minute, the pocket dynamo Rizwan earned a PC for the Dar HA. And a superb three touch drill saw Salman reducing the margin. The pole to pole stuff continued much to the delight of the onlookers. Lanky Asad manged to equalise via a well-placed flat push on the next PC.
But there was a further script in the story. In the 23rd minute, a long ball from the right side line surprisingly eluded a number of Dar HA defenders and Vlek at the far pole easily tapped the ball in to restore the lead; a case of poor marking.
With their unbeaten European record of three years in danger, the Lahore based academy went beserk. They earned three penalty corners in a row without utilising any mainly due to poor shooting widely. The sustained pressure eventually paid off when in the 32nd minute, Adeel’s pass from the right was expertly flicked in by Rizwan to the immense jubilation of the Pakistani contingent.
The drama continued till the very end when a defensive error led to a Hurley PC in the last seconds but the hosts couldn’t make out of it due to poor stopping.
Pakistan: 3 (Salman, Asad, Rizwan)
Hurley Hockey Club, Holland: 3 (Rakhal Stol, Chris Stroboer, Vlek)