Wizards beat Marines in thriller

Y. B. Sarangi

Shakeel Abbasi continued with his fine form as Delhi Wizards beat Mumbai Marines 2-1 in a thrilling match in the World Series Hockey (WSH) tournament here on Monday.

Wizards garnered 13 points after nine matches and improved its position to be in the fifth slot. Marines was at the seventh place with 10 points. In the previous meeting in Mumbai, the two sides had played out a 2-2 draw.

After dull action in the initial 10 minutes, the match picked up pace towards the closing stages of the first quarter.

First strike

Wizards captain Shakeel Abbasi earned a penalty corner and Vikramjeet Singh put the home team ahead with a drag-flick in the 13th minute.

However, the joy was short-lived for the Wizards as Marines drew parity after two minutes. Ajmer Singh’s opportune hit, following a failed attempt, off the side’s first short corner brought relief for the touring side. Wizards held the upper hand in the second period. It hung on to the ball and looked for openings. South African Clyde Abrahams led an alert Marines defence while Ajmer Singh and Prabodh Tirkey worked hard to foil the efforts of Wizards.

Custodian Adrian D’Souza also gave good account of his skills to stop some dangerous attempts. The clever Abbasi, however, surprised Marines by attacking from the left flank. His powerful reverse hit got deflected from the stick of a Marines defender into the goal in the 35th minute.

Marines pressed for the equaliser but was left heart-broken when its 69th minute goal was disallowed following a video referral.

The result: Delhi Wizards 2 (Vikramjeet Singh, Shakeel Abbasi) bt Mumbai Marines 1 (Ajmer Singh).