Mumbai: Skipper Florian Fuchs and Affan Yousuf scored a brace each as Dabang Mumbai floored defending champions Jaypee Punjab Warriors 10-4 in a Hockey India League-5 match here on Friday.
Nikkin Thimmaiah scored the first field goal for the home side which was nullified by Matt Gohdes’ field goal in the first quarter. Arman Qureshi was also on the scoresheet for the visitors. It was incidentally the first win by the Mumbai side over Punjab in this tournament.
Seconds before half time, Mumbai skipper Fuchs found space to unleash a reverse finish into the right corner of goal. Fuchs extended Mumbai’s lead in the 43rd minute with another ravishing finish after Thimmaiah did the hard work from the left. But Punjab reduced the margin to 4-6 a minute later with Qureshi’s strike on the counter after being fed by Sunil.
It was all about young Yousuf in the fourth quarter as he took the game away from Punjab. He deflected in a pass from Gurjant Singh to make it 8-4 in the 49th minute. Yousuf was celebrating again seconds later, volleying the ball into an empty net.
