Orissa Stealers beat Bangalore Lions, climb to top of table

Chennai, Feb 1 (UNI) Orissa Stealers trounced Bangalore Lions by three goals without reply-3-0 and joined Sher-e-Jallandar at the top of the table, in the ESPN-BSNL Professional Hockey League(PHL) at the astro turf stadium here today.

The Stealers, who were in total control of the match, went into the lead in the 32nd minute through a goal by Cellar. They increased the lead in the 51st minute when A Zakir sounded the boards.

International Ramandeep Singh earned the third goal for the team when he scored in the 59th minute.

The Bangalore Lions failed to get past the rival defence decisively throughout what turned out to be a one sided contest.

Orissa Stealers now have 11 points from five matches and have one more match to go in the first phase of the league, while Bangalore Lions have nine from six outings.

UNI