WSH: Delhi Wizards run out of ideas, steam

NEW DELHI: It was heartbreak night for Delhi Wizards. They wasted a two-goal lead to go down 2-5 against Chennai Cheetahs in a World Series Hockey match at the National Stadium on Monday, their second straight loss in the tournament.

With Saturday’s loss against Pune Strykers still fresh in their minds, Wizards came to the ground showing a lot of purpose, looking for their second win of the tournament. Their determination paid dividends as they soon took control of the match. With some swift moves and fast running they created several chances, putting the rival defence under pressure. But they failed to take an early lead due to some missed chances.

On two occasions, they came close to taking the lead – once when Manoj Antil had only the goalkeeper to beat but could not collect an aerial pass from Rajpal, and then when Vikram Kanth failed to tap in a cross when he had no one between him and the post. However, their fortunes changed soon, although temporarily. German Philip Sunkel took upon himself the responsibility of scoring for his side and came up with two goals in quick succession to put the Wizards in a comfortable position.

Joseph Reardon led Cheetahs’ fightback, coming up with a stunning goal towards the end of the second quarter. There was no looking back for the visitors who raised the level of their game a notch to outplay their rivals in the third quarter. An aggressive game helped them earn three penalty corners in quick time and Imran Warsi slammed home from two of them to give his side 3-2 lead by the end of the quarter.

Delhi tried for a comeback, but that was not to be as Adam Sinclair and Sandeep Antil scored in the last quarter to help their side earn full points. Their second win from three matches took them to six points, three clear of Delhi.

Earlier, Bhopal Badshahs beat hosts Karnataka Lions 3-1. Karan Baskaran scored in the 44th and 46th minutes and former India player Sameer Dad (48th) rounded off the scoring while Lions had their only moment of success in the 42nd when Dhanraj Pillai scored.