Our penalty corner conversion needs improvement: Rupinderpal

Even as defending champion Delhi Waveriders is trying to improve upon its mediocre performance in the third edition of the Hockey India League (HIL), prominent defender-cum-drag-flicker Rupinderpal Singh admits that the team flaunting three penalty corner specialists is yet to make an impact in this department.

In six matches Waveriders have scored just two goals, through Danish Mujtaba and Simon Child, from penalty corners. Rupinderpal, who has been part of the side since the inaugural season of HIL, said Waveriders were yet to benefit from their drag-flickers — including himself, Diwakar Ram and New Zealander Andrew Hayward.

“So far, our penalty corner conversion has not been good. We have committed a lot of mistakes. I hope we will perform better in the coming matches. We have to work hard to improve our short corner conversion rate,” Rupinderpal told The Hindu.

“I am not happy with my own performance. I need to do a lot better in defence as well as penalty corners.”

Following their two wins over Dabang Mumbai, Waveriders marginally improved their position on the points tally (15 points from two wins, two losses and two draws). But their 0-7 loss to Jaypee Punjab Warriors in the last match was a disappointing result for Waveriders.

Slack defence
Rupinderpal said the champion side suffered due to its slack defence. “In most of the matches we have taken lead in the first 10 minutes but conceded goals in the last quarter due to misunderstandings. Last year we had (top German goalkeeper Nicholas) Jacobi, who had a great season. The current goalkeeper (South African Rassie Peterse) is also good. But you cannot pinpoint one man when defending the goal is everyone’s responsibility.”

Rupinderpal said the players remained positive as they did not have any undue pressure from the management. “Our support staff and management did not put any pressure when we did not do well. We have improved in terms of coordination. We are doing a lot of video analysis and working on our mistakes in order to get better,” said Rupinderpal.