Match No. 55
Day 28: Friday 30.3.2012:
Wizards sign off in style with 7-5 win
Delhi Wizards accomplished their most desired wish of signing off this year’s Bridgestone World Series Hockey with a win, and they did it in style against Sher-E-Punjab on home turf on Friday amidst a vocal crowd at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium.
Spirited captain Shakeel Abbasi ushered his team to realize the mission, scoring three goals including the 300th of the WSH when he converted a stroke which he earned in the 61st minute. He was fittingly declared the Best Player. Wizards scrapped through Shers in the first round with a tight 2-1 score, but today it went all out in churning out seven goals while conceding five.
The fluent 7-5 win marked Wizards’ sixth win in 14 matches, fourth at home. The huge crowd could not have been happier to witness a match that produced 12 goals, the highest in a WSH match so far.
After conceding a soft goal to Gagandeep Singh, young gun Victo Singh opened the scoring spree for Delhi with a close range scoop and then medio Vivek Gupta gave a superb finishing touch to his own solo, his strong forehand from the top of the circle landing home bemusing goalie Dinesh Ekka.
Shers, despite slow in moves, woke up and equalized before changing sides. It was left to the genius of old war horse Prabhjot Singh to do the damage control within two minutes, as he bounced on to a rebound and hit a diagonal that smashed into the net.
The change of sides saw the fortunes change for the Wizards. Captain Abbasi, who came close to scoring in the first half umpteen times but could only create penalty corner of, struck a brace in the space of five minutes for a solid 4-2 lead.
Shers sent shivers down the spine of the hosts when Karamjit Singh’s solo ended fruitfully in the 53rd minute, but the Wizards retrieved from the shock to launch a counter and bounced back into the game with a kind of vengeance that would be relished for many years to come.
Midfielder Vivek Gupta, who learnt the game on this very ground as an Air India Academy incumbent, set up many moves which resulted in goals.
With 19 points, the Wizards moved to sixth position in the table ahead of Bhopal Badshahs and Mumbai Marines.
The Wizards may have finished sixth, but it produced some exhilarating hockey in the last one month. Their young players, such as Gurwinder Singh, Victo Singh, Updendra Pillay, Manot Antil won many a heart, as was the case with the established stars like Shakeel Abbassi, Rajpal Singh, Kamaldeep Singh and Philip Sunkel.
Match No. 56
Day 28: Friday 30.3.2012:
Marines keep Cheetahs at bay to help Pune enter semis
Mumbai Marines put paid to the hopes of Chennai Cheetahs as they surprised coach Jose Brasa’s fancied side with a solid 4-1 scoreline with their foreign import Troy Sutherland having a hand in three goals in the Bridgestone World Series Hockey at the Mahindra Stadium turf here on Friday.
Mumbari Marines did a great job in the defence and held the ball for longer periods and their skipper Adrian D’ Souza was brilliant in the goal to deny Chennai Cheetahs a victory which would have assured them of a semifinal berth. A late goal four minutes from time from Imran Warsi, following a set-piece, only reduced the margin for Chennai and made Warsi top the individual goal scorers’ list. It was no consolation though as Pune Strykers, cheering the Marines and hoping for a Marines win, will now take the final semifinal slot. Even as one thought the match ended, Aijub Ekka rubbed salted into the wounds of Chennai smashing a last-minute goal from around the spot.
Earlier in the first half, Mumbai Marines took a 2-0 half-time lead scoring once in each quarter while Marines skipper Adrian D’Souza led from the front making two great saves to stop the tournament’s top-goalscorer Imran Warsi from converting his drag-flicks at the other end.
Marines opened their account as early as the 4th minute through an opportunistic field goal where an alert Banmali Xess hung on to a loose ball and punished it with a stunning reverse hit after teammate Troy Sutherland did the initial spade work. Troy was again in the thick of action in the second quarter when he was brought down by rival custodian Santosh Kumar when he was in about to strike and the umpire had no hesitation in pointing to the dreaded spot. Ajmer Singh, who took the penalty stroke for Marines in the 21st minute drew the goalie to the wrong side as the ball zoomed into the right corner of the net.
Thereafter, Chennai attacked with vigour but all they could gain was 7 penalty corners and their expert Warsi fumbled today with Mumbai goalie Adrian guarding the goal stubbornly. Prabodh Tirkey too made a wonderful goalline save on one occasion.
Chennai Cheetahs may not have lived upto the expectations today, but throughout their WSH campaign, they provided an enchanting brand of hockey, missed the semis by a whisker, and have also unearthed many new faces to Indian hockey galaxy like Sivamani. Vinod Pillay, K. Santosh.