New Delhi: Gurpreet Singh fired in a brace to help Pune Strykers defeat the hosts Delhi Wizards in their second match of the World Series Hockey played here at the Dhyanchand National Stadium here on Saturday.
Pune who looked a far better side on display dominated from the onset of the match were clinical with their tactics and carried their winning momentum forward in the tournament. Pune started off on an attacking note and drew the first blood of the match very early on in the match when Mario Almada’s reverse strike from a goal mouth melee found the nets in the fifth minute. Three minutes later the wizards did get a chance to equalize but their goal was disallowed.
As the match progressed on Strykers increased their stronghold on the match and earned their first penalty corner of the match, but could convert it as Vikas Pillay’s shot went wide of the cage.
Just four minutes ahead of the first quarter, Wizards earned two consecutive penalty corners but their endeavor was thwarted by Strykers’ defence who stood like a wall. The teams went into the break with the Pune side leading 1-0.
In the second quarter both the team got some more chances but could not make any inroads. The hosts who were dominated for the most part of the match however pulled one back in the eight minutes of the second quarter when Philip Sunkel deflected a pass from Vikram Kanth to find the equalizer.
The match took an interesting turn in the 30th minute of the match when Wizards got two back to back short corners but wasted both the chances. After the change of ends, both the teams employ attacking tactics but could not reap any success.
But in the 53rd minute things however changed for Strykers as Gurmeet Singh found the nets off a ground flick. The miseries continued for the Wizards as just 10 minutes before the hooter Gurmeet scored from the spot to take an unassailable 3-1 lead.
Wizards made one last attempt in the dying moments of the match but failed as Philip who made a diving attempt off a pass from Shakeel Abbasi, but his shot landed went wide.
By Samikshan Dutta Choudhury
Indian Sports News
