Middleton brace for Ranchi sinks Mumbai

England's Barry Middleton scored twice in the third quarter, to pilot Ranchi Rays to a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Dabang Mumbai in the Hockey India League encounter at the Mahindra Stadium here today.
Mumbai took the lead through their Belgian forward Tom Boon in the 8th minute of the third quarter, after a goalless first half of play, which was neutralised two minutes later by Middleton with a short range effort.
Middleton then scored the match-winner in the 45th minute of play before Ranchi kept the Mumbai attackers at bay in the last quarter to emerge victorious.
It was the visitors' first win in two games after their 3-6 loss to Kalinga Lancers two days ago while for Mumbai, who drew 3-3 with last year's runners-up Jaypee Punjab Warriors yesterday, it was their first loss in two games.

The match was played at a much slower pace than yesterday's lung opener.
The home team, who drew with Punjab in a rousing match yesterday, clearly showing signs of tiredness in playing for the second day running.

Ranchi took control of the proceedings for the major part of the first two quarters and made several forays into the Mumbai half whose defense held firm.
Barring a few moves down the right flank, Mumbai were hardly in the picture in the first two quarters. They also wasted a penalty corner award. Their star player, Australian Glenn Turner, was largely inconspicuous in the opening half before coming into the picture more later.

Ranchi, who combined better than their rivals with Manpreet Singh catching the eye in midfield with his incisive passes, got two short corner awards, but failed to make any impression with both of them and the score stood goalless at the halfway stage of the game.
The beginning of the third quarter saw the pace of the game pick up a bit and as a consequence both the defense was put under more pressure.