Abahani outplayed Bangladesh Army 7-1 in the final to lift the Walton Smartphone Victory Day Hockey title at the Maulana Bhashani National Hockey Stadium yesterday.
It was the victory of tactics and techniques over the physical fitness and hit and run hockey as the Army men fought neck to neck in the initial minutes before fading away gradually. Abahani proved the superiority in the final with their thinking game and the variations of converting the penalty corner which in the end made all the difference. Army, who routed Usha 5-2 in the semis, lost the fighting spirit in the finishing stages as the rampaging Sky Blue forwards struck three goals in as many minutes to put the icing on the cake.
Overall Abahani earned seven penalty corners and converted three despite having three different sets of penalty corner converting units. Army on the other hand could not make use of any of the three penalty corners they received.
Abahani came close to take the lead in the 10th minute, but skipper Niloy failed to push the ball past the goal line after Pushkor Khisha Mimo’s hit rebounded off the pad of Army goalkeeper Sadekur Rahman.
However, penalty corner specialist Ashraful Islam drilled a low hit in the 21st minute to take the lead before Mimo doubled the margin in the 31st minute. Ashraful scored his second seven minutes later as Abahani went to the breather with the game already in their bag.
However, Army’s Milon Hossain reduced the margin in the 45th minute, but it took just a minute for Abahani to restore the three-goal lead as Khorshedur Rahman’s fierce strike on a penalty corner ended on the inside roof of the net. The pressure piled up on the Army men as they eventually lost concentration and paid heavily in three consecutive minutes from 65 to 67. Nannu, Mimo and Niloy scored from three quick counter attacks to kill the game.
Ashraful Islam was adjudged as the player of the tournament while Abdul Malek finished as the highest scorer with nine goals.
ATN Bangla chairman Mahfuzur Rahman distributed the prizes as the chef guest. FM Iqbal bin Anwar Dawn, the additional director of Walton, and Bangladesh Hockey Federation general secretary Khwaja Rahmatullah were also present on the occasion.