WSH: Abbasi keeps Delhi Wizards alive
NEW DELHI: Delhi Wizards gave a boost to their chances of making the semifinals, as they overcame a fighting Mumbai Marines 2-1 to record their second straight win in the World Series Hockey here on Monday. Delhi came up with their best performance in the tournament so far to earn three vital points and take their tally to 13. They are now in joint third position after nine matches.
Shakeel Abbasi led the Wizards from the front by scoring the winner in the 35th minute after Vikramjeet Singh (13th minute) gave the hosts the lead which was neutralized by the Marines two minutes later through Ajmer Singh.
Desperate to stay alive in the competition, Delhi showed a lot of intent as they started aggressively. Barring the first few minutes when the Marines created a couple of scoring opportunities, it was the Wizards who dominated the first half. Skipper Abbasi was in his elements as he troubled the rival defence regularly with some incisive moves. He exploited the chinks in the rival defence to earn the first penalty corner which was converted by Vikramjeet with a power-packed drag-flick. But Delhi’s lead was short-lived as the Marines drew parity a minute later through Ajmer. After that it was Wizards all the way till the half-time hooter.
The hosts were unable to score more goals with the Marines defenders, specially Prabodh Tirkey and Ajmer Singh, and goalkeeper Adrian D’Souza offering solid resistance. But Abbasi gave Delhi the lead with less than a minute to go for the half-time when he followed up his long run on the left with a spectacular reverse flick from inside the circle which went into the goal with a deflection from a Marines defender’s stick. Wizards could have gone to the break with a much bigger lead had they converted from two penalty corners they earned in the first half.
Mumbai had their chances to level the score in the evenly-fought third quarter, but they frittered away the opportunities.