Late goal earns Cumilla a 4-3 win over Padma

Courtesy of a brace from captain Sohanur Rahman Sabuj, Rupayan City Cumilla returned to winning ways with a hard-fought 4-3 win over Monarch Padma in their third match of the Hockey Champions Trophy at Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium today.

Cumilla, who suffered 4-3 defeat to Walton Dhaka in their second match, faced some resistance from Padma in the first quarter before both sides found the target in the second quarter to end the first half with a 2-1 lead against Padma, who arrived into the match on the back of a moral boosting 6-3 win over Saif SC Khulna on Tuesday night.

National forward Pushkor Khisa Mimo gave Cumilla a 21-minute lead from an open play before Obaidur Rahman widened the margin two minutes later.

Padma, however, struck back to pull back one goal as Krishna Kumar reduced the margin to 2-1 in the 26th minute but Cumilla again restored their two-goal lead in the 39th minute, with captain Sabuj converting a penalty corner.

Despite going 3-1 down, Padma bounced back strongly by netting two goals within three minutes, with Japanese Miya Tanimitsu and Korean Sea Jongn striking in the 41st and 43rd minute, respectively.

The tie seemed to have headed for a 3-3 draw from then but captain Sabuj struck the winning goal from a penalty corner two minutes from time.

Cumilla thus left the field with two wins in three matches while Padma had to be content with their third defeat in four matches.