Jalandhar: Delhi Wizards came out triumphant to hand out prodigal Sher-E-Punjab a 1-2 defeat on Day 8 of the Bridgestone World Series Hockey here on Wednesday.
Shers dominated the field of play, creating enough chances inside the circle, but were found wanting when it came to converting them into goals. Delhi kept its citadel intact when the going was tough and then scored two surprise goals to emerge winners here at the sprightly Surjit Singh Hockey Stadium.
Coming back into the game in the second half, Delhi cancelled out the one lead before Gurwinder Singh struck the all-important winner in the 63rd minute. It’s the second win for the visitors while it is the first defeat for the strong Shers who played their fourth straight game on
home ground.
Mathew Hotchkis struck a field goal in the 22nd minute to put the Shers on top only to see Manoj Antil equalize 18 minutes later. Delhi played their hearts out, and went extra mile to safeguard its cage from the marauding Shers’ forward.
Gurwinder Singh played a saviour role for Delhi with his timely stunner off a Shakeel Abbasi’s feed eight minutes before the hooter. His forehand shot from top of the circle went in through goalie and a defender.
Shers controlled the proceedings in the first half. Olympian Rajinder Senior’s team moved like a well oiled machine to tear apart the fragile Delhi defence at will. Mathews on the left wing and Mandeep Antil on the other wing worked in tandem, entered the circle time and again only to see other forwards let the chances go abegging.
Delhi’s goalie Kamaldeep Singh showed enough athleticism and anticipation to thwart many goal-bearing moves.
Shers’s shortcoming in the penalty corner drills too came to the fore in the spell. Sherss' coach Rajinder used all the arsenal in his disposal -- Olympian Harpal Singh, Junior International Harpreet Singh and and international star Didar Singh – but their best effort fell short.
Vivek Singh and Manjeet Kullu supported goalie Kamaldeep Singh in frustrating them and managed to keep their citadel intact.
Shers famed forwards could have made the difference in the first half when they dominated. But it was not to be. Otherwise hawkish Deepak Thakur failed to tap in twice from close range while Gagan Ajit miscued his reverse shot against open cage much to the chagrin of the vast crowd that turned out to see home side’s fire work.
The knowledgeable Jalandhar crowd need not wait for long to cherish the moment they were waiting for. Shers’s untiring winger Matthews Hotchkis struck the eluding goal in the opening phase of the second half ((20 min, 1-0). Matthews was till then contended in sending crosses and centres, and for a change was comfortably positioned at the centre of the circle to receive a diagonal pass.
Shers went for the lemon time with this narrow lead.
Delhi showed some urgency to come up and count after the side change. It tightened its midfield. Things started falling in line. Shers started committing mistakes and their harried shots posed no danger to the visitors.
Shortly after Prabhjot missed a shot, fast and furious Manoj Antil changed the complexion of the game. Much against the run of play, the mercurial forward trapped a freehit from Vikram Kant, drew the goalie out before sending his forehand home (41 min 1-1).
This equalizer spurred the Shers to change gear. Aggressive Shers pounded the Delhi’s citadel relentlessly, but were found wanting in finish. In all, Shers wasted as many as ten penalty corners and twice the number of shots at goal. Manjit Kullu was the Player of the match.
