Hockey India League 2024-25: Dragons win 11-goal thriller against Gonasika, Toofans clinch first outright victory
Hockey India League 2024-25: Dragons win 11-goal thriller against Gonasika, Toofans clinch first outright victory
In a gripping goal-feast that swung from side to side, Dutch drag-flicker Jip Janssen struck a spectacular hat-trick, the second player to do so in this tournament (the first being Kalinga Lancers’ Thierry Brinkman), to guide Tamil Nadu Dragons to a 6-5 win over Team Gonasika in the Hockey India League at the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium here on Wednesday.
Dragons’ second outright win pushed it up to the second spot on the table.
Gonasika, relying on its short passing, made early inroads through Araijeet Singh Hundal’s double strike. Araijeet launched a diagonal grounder from the edge of the circle and then tapped in a cross from Timothee Clement, who defied two defenders and barely maintained his balance to pass it from the goal line.
The Dragons clawed back into the match slowly.
At the stroke of the first break, Abharan Sudev deflected in Janssen’s beautiful variation.
Early in the second quarter, the Dragons earned three short corners, and Janssen sounded the board to draw parity. Man-to-man marking denied Gonasika free movement and helped Dragons share the honours at half-time.
Janssen put the Dragons in the lead by converting a penalty corner early in the second half. Trailing, Gonasika answered in style. After Tim Howard’s shot off a short corner hit the crossbar, Nikkin Thimmaiah deflected in to make it 3-3. Struan Walker’s short corner conversion restored Gonasika’s lead.
Dragons again showed its set-piece excellence, and Janssen surprised Oliver Payne with another penalty corner variation.
Dragons went ahead through Nathan Ephraums’ strike before Clement drew level.
Karthi Selvam scored the winner, the fourth goal of the action-packed fourth quarter, a minute before the hooter, in the 11-goal nail-biter.
In the second match, bottom-placed Hyderabad Toofans upset UP Rudras 3-0 to record its first victory in regulation time.
