Khalsa's faint promotion hopes ended with defeat at Bournville

Khalsa's title hopes evaporated last Saturday with a 5-3 defeat at Bournville.
An overworked Keith Distin pulls off another save in Khalsa 2nds' 8-0 defeat at the hands of Beeston. Picture: Morris TroughtonAn overworked Keith Distin pulls off another save in Khalsa 2nds' 8-0 defeat at the hands of Beeston. Picture: Morris Troughton
An overworked Keith Distin pulls off another save in Khalsa 2nds' 8-0 defeat at the hands of Beeston. Picture: Morris Troughton

The loss left Khalsa in third, nine points behind leaders Belper and five behind Harborne.

Khalsa found themselves a goal down inside two minutes at Bournville but reacted well and created several opportunities to equalise, with David Harris’ effort from a short corner tipped wide of a post and Alex Idoine failing to hit the target from a good position.

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Bournville capitalised on the missed opportunities to move 2-0 up from a penalty corner in the tenth minute.

Khalsa were then guilty of over-committing players forward and the home side scored a third in only their third venture into the visitors’ D.

Bournville made it 4-0 with a simple tap-in after a superb save from Elliot Rider had fallen kindly for their striker.

Idoine pulled a goal back on the stroke of half-time from the penalty spot after a deliberate foul in the circle and Khalsa’s decision to resort to direct hockey after the break was rewarded with a tap-in at the far post for Harris.

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Khalsa continued pressing forward but Bournville restored their three-goal cushion when a crash ball into the circle ricocheted through to an unmarked attacker.

Savhan Lall and Anit Chudasama linked superbly in the midfield and forward lines to create a host of penalty corners as Khalsa looked for a way back.

However, the home keeper was in superb form.

Lall reacted smartly to slot home the loose ball after a power flick from Idoine was saved to make it 5-3 with two minutes to go but Khalsa had left it too late.

Khalsa 2nds were unable to put a dent in visitors Beeston’s unbeaten record at St Nicholas Park on Saturday. Khalsa started the brighter of the two sides but were unable to convert either of two good chances and Beeston gained in confidence from their let-offs.

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The visitors dispatched two short corners and two open-play goals to open up a 4-0 half-time lead and went on to double their tally after the break in an afternoon to forget for Khalsa.

Khalsa 3rds managed to restrict free-scoring leaders Leicester to a goalless second half in their East Midlands Premier Division encounter.

However, the home side still claimed all three points, having opened up a 4-2 lead before the interval.

Nevertheless, Khalsa can take a huge amount of positives from the clash against a side who had scored 92 goals in their previous 14 games.

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Understandably, the early stages were dominated by Leicester with Khalsa goalkeeper Kiran Kular called upon to make a number of routine stops.

The home side turned their dominance into goals with two quickfire strikes but Khalsa were rewarded for a reshuffle which pushed Parvinder Singh into a more attacking role.

They halved the deficit with a penalty stroke from Parvinder after Nav Hayer’s shot had hit a defender on the line and were denied an equaliser by the agile home keeper.

However, the home side regrouped and repeatedly earned short corners after entering the D.

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Two of these were converted despite a superb triple save from Kular.

Just before half-time Eddie Pulling linked up well with Hayer to set up Luke Foster to pull it back to 4-2 but despite a strong second-half performance from the visitors this is how it stayed.

There was better news for Khalsa 4ths, however, who won 6-2 at home to Stratford 6ths.

Manjit Singh scored two, with Satvarg Nijjar, Jagi Hayer, Janamjit Babbara and Adam Bellamy also on target as they climbed to third in the table.

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Khalsa Masters over-40s travelled to Old Silhillians for a rearranged cup match and came back with a 3-2 victory.

The win put Khalsa into the next round where they face another away fixture, this time at Boots.

Stuart Collgate, Ricky Saund and skipper Parvinder Singh scored the goals.

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