Furste leads Rhinos to win over Wizards
RANCHI: After successive defeats against UP Wizards and Delhi Waveriders, Ranchi Rhinos finally stemmed the rot as skipper Moritz Furste led his team to victory against the Wizards at the Astroturf Hockey Stadium on Thursday.
It was only 11 minutes into the match and the fans were still settling down in the stands when a long pass from Birendra Lakra found Furste in front of the goal. The skipper happily flicked it past the goalkeeper. The hosts clung to their lead till the third quarter. Wizards earned a penalty corner just when the hooter signaled the end of the third quarter. Luke Donald slammed it home to silence a packed stadium.
The Rhinos got their act together and attacked incessantly. With just four minutes to go for the final hooter, Nick Wilson of New Zealand scored to give the hosts the lead. Wizards tried their best to find the equalizer, lost their momentum – due to the timeouts – and with that the match. With nine seconds left in the game, Rhinos added insult to injury as Ashley Jackson scored from the penalty corner to make it 3-1.
Having lost a thriller to Delhi on Wednesday, Rhinos looked composed and determined on Thursday.
This was Wizards’ first defeat, having remained unbeaten in their first four matches. The Roelant Oltmans-coached UP team would surely be ruing the fact that their skipper VR Raghunath failed to convert the two penalty corners they earned. After conceding seven goals in the last two matches, the Ranchi defenders worked better as a unit and did not let the Wizards slip in. In the forward line, Kothajit Singh was impressive for the home side.