HOCKEY: THERE was no shortage of goals for Khalsa at home to Barford Tigers on Saturday when even without top scorer David Harris they were able to claim an emphatic 9-1 victory in the Midlands Premier Division.
Khalsa started on top with some early possession in the back line and patient build up from the defence allowed holes to open up in the Tigers’ defence.
Stuart Gooderham opened the scoring after Jas Singh found him on top of the circle and his bullet strike sailed into the corner beating the keeper.
Gooderham claimed his second goal of the game shortly after his first after a well weighted pass from Gurminder Ghattaura put Gooderham through on goal and he did the rest by rounding the keeper for a simple tap in.
The hosts continued their dominance in possession and Alex Idoine came close with a reverse stick strike past the back post.
Sav Lall’s tireless work up front came to fruition allowing him to make a break towards goal and unselfishly laying the ball off to Idoine after drawing the keeper out, however Idoine’s shot towards goal was illegally stopped resulting in a penalty stroke.
Sean Robinson stepped up to maintain his 100 per cent record from the spot to give Khalsa a 3-0 lead.
Aaron Nagra added to the scoreline after dispatching a drag flick into the top left corner but Barford were not without there threats up front with some skilful forwards, however Colegate and Angliss did well to deal with any imminent threats.
Khalsa conceded their only short corner of the game in the first half which keeper Elliot Rider kept out with no problems.
After another excellent save from Elliot Rider, the ricochet fell kindly to a Tiger’s forward whose shot was deemed to be stopped illegally on the line resulting in a penalty stroke being awarded. The Tigers forward calmly dispatched this past Rider with a glimmer of hope for the visitors.
After the break Khalsa remained unchanged and soon enough normal service was resumed five minutes after the re-start when an excellent move involving Joe Colantonio, Gooderham and Lall allowed Gurminder Ghattaura to slap the ball low into the corner of the goal
Aaron Nagra claimed a hat-trick with two goals in quick succession and he was unlucky not to score a fourth had it not been for an excellent stop on the line by a Barford defender.
Idoine added to the tally with a slick short corner routine between Idoine and Jas Singh and Anit Chudasama’s standout performance was rewarded with an excellent contribution to Jack Wells. goal.
Chudasama’s flair was too much to handle for the Tigers defence eventually allowing Jack Wells to pick up his pass for a superb reverse stick strike low into the goal completing the scoring for the game.
Khalsa are away at Belper this Saturday.
