HIL 2025-26: Late goals help Kalinga Lancers edge past Bengal Tigers
A final-quarter flurry of goals provided a contrasting end to a match strewn with misses as Kalinga Lancers defeated Bengal Tigers 2-1 in the Hockey India League at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium in Chennai on Thursday.
After umpteen wastes at both ends, Lancers took the three points courtesy of strikes from Alexander Hendrickx (52’) and Boby Singh Dhami (57’). Tigers got their goal from Affan Yousuf (56’) but were left wanting for more.
The Tigers’ keeper James Carr was called into action in the seventh minute after Liam Henderson won the ball at the halfway line and set up Dhami in the circle. The forward had one defender in front of him, but preferred shooting over attempting a dribble. The shot was destined for the bottom left corner but was nudged wide by Carr.
The pressure high up the final third yielded a penalty corner for Lancers in the next minute, but Hendrickx’s dragflick was cleared off the goal line by Sean Findlay.
Carr denied the Lancers in the 10th minute again, charging at Dilpreet Singh at the top of the circle and successfully throwing him off his tomahawk.
The first time the Tigers posed a real threat was in the 17th minute. Christopher Ruhr fed Gursewak Singh on the left side of the circle, but the latter’s reverse-hit was off the mark. Gursewak was the final piece of another Tigers attack in the 20th minute, this time winning a PC for his side. However, Jugraj Singh’s dragflick went flat and straight at the feet of Krishan Pathak, who did not have to break a sweat for his save.
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Three minutes before half-time, Ketan Kushwaha scooped into the circle to pick Poovanna Pradhan, whose whip at the goal went wide. But the clearer chance came just 15 seconds before the quarter ended. Ruhr and Sukhjeet Singh shared a one-two to charge through the left flank, before the latter opened a pass to Enrique Gonzalez up front. Pathak came off his line to block Gonzalez’s attempted pass to Ruhr on the right, which, if it had gone through, would have made for an open-goal finish.
Jugraj misfired from a penalty corner for a second time in the 37th minute, a chance that was won by Sukhjeet, who drew a foul from Pathak at the goalmouth.
Rohit Kullu had his hands on his head in the 43rd minute after he gifted the ball to Ruhr in his own half while looking for a teammate. But the German forward was forced wide to the right by Dipsan Tirkey, forcing him into a narrow angle and foiling his shot.
The Tigers switched to Ruhr on their penalty corner in the 44th minute but he was thwarted at the line by Craig Marais’s stick.
In the 50th minute, Dhami snatched the ball off Jugraj in the midfield, setting up Marais for a run at goal. But the eventual Tomahawk that he opted for was neither powerful enough to beat Carr nor the right option with two teammates open to his right.
Carr padded away another chance, this time from Hendrickx in the 51st minute. But the outcome was out of his control just a minute later when Hendrickx’s dragflick took Findlay’s stick and burst into the net.
Tigers fired back straightaway as Sukhjeet got at the end of an aerial from Tommy Willems and squared the ball to Yousuf.
Dhami was at the right place at the right time in the 57th minute, getting to a Hendrickx’s rebounded dragflick and firing the Lancers to victory from close range.
Published on Jan 08, 2026