Cheeyanna was in supreme form on Saturday. His two-goal show was the highlight of the match in which Bangalore Hi-Fliers beat Chennai Veerans 4-2 in the Premier Hockey League here. You Hyo-sik set up two goals intelligently and the performance of the duo went a long way in the win.

With this win, Hi-Fliers have moved one step closer to making the semifinals. They are now on 11 points from five matches, while Veerans are yet to score a point.

Veerans actually started off well and were making good advances to the rival goal. This was in contrast to the matches they have played so far. On Saturday, they were the first to score through drag-flicker VR Raghunath in the 14th minute. The senior India player put in a clean flick and he was delighted to see the ball crashing through the rival defence for his team's first goal.

The Chennai team's Adam Sinclair and V Raja were doing a good job in keeping the rival defence on their toes. Sadly, Veerans could not maintain that form and Hi-Fliers were a determined lot since a win would put them in contention for a semifinal spot.

Soon, Cheeyanna fetched the equaliser for Hi-Fliers in the 17th minute. Former India forward Arjun Halappa gave a long pass from the right to Cheeyanna, who was in the circle. Cheeyanna had no real difficulty in getting past rival defender Vikramjit Singh and goalkeeper PR Sreejesh to score and restore parity.

Goal-bound flick

It was quite a while before Hi-Fliers took the lead. The team's drag-flicker Len Aiyappa converted a stroke in the 40th. They were awarded a penalty corner before that but Veerans' defender Raghunath took Aiyappa's goal-bound flick on the shoulder and umpire Parnam Singh awarded a stroke. Aiyappa converted easily.

Veerans surprised equaliser came in the 49th minute through skipper Sinclair. Suresh gave a well-measured long pass into the circle, where Sinclair was waiting and positioned well. The latter turned around and shot into the goal.

If that was a good goal, then Hi-Fliers' third goal in the 56th was much better, with Cheeyanna doing the needful. Their Korean player You Hyo-sik made a shrewd pass into the circle to SV Sunil, who tried to score but had difficulty with rival goalkeeper Sreejesh providing the opposition. In this confusion, the ball strayed a little and Cheeyanna dashed in from the left flank to send the ball in.

A great piece of thinking from You Hyo-sik gave Hi-Fliers' the fourth goal. Seeing Veerans' goalkeeper Sreejesh rushing out at him, the former lobbed the ball above the goalkeeper. It was then a simple matter for GM Hariprasad to guide the ball into the goal. Cheeyanna was declared man of the match.

Steelers score

Later, defending champions Orissa Steelers defeated Maratha Warriors 4-2. The scorers for Steelers were Ajitesh Roy (7th), Shakeel Abbasi (50th, 58th) and Damandeep Singh (59th). For Warriors, Dutchman Looijem Melchior (57th, 62nd) got both goals.

Steelers have eight points from five matches, while Warriors have seven from four matches. Steelers Abbasi won the man of the match award for his two goals.

Sunday's matches: Sher-e-Jallandhar vs Bangalore Hi-Fliers (3.30 pm); Chandigarh Dynamos vs Maratha Warriors (6.00 pm).