Rajeev Kumar
Bhubaneswar, Feb 12: It wasn’t just the rain and the fans’ presence that came unexpectedly to the Kalinga Lancers here Thursday but also the result of their encounter with the fourth-placed Delhi Waveriders in a tie of the Hockey India League (HIL) at the Kalinga Stadium.
While rain made the evening pleasant, inspiring the Lancers to start afresh and with full energy after facing six consecutive home and away defeats in the League, the boisterous support of over four thousand fans emboldened their self-belief to take on the defending champions. And they did it with full gusto for most part of the match, starting with a stunning early strike by Lucas Villa (third minute) and kept on penetrating Delhi’s defence regularly.
For the entire first quarter, Delhi appeared clueless against the rampant Lancers, who appeared to be on the verge of scoring a goal at any minute, but it came only in the second quarter when Vikash Sharma (20th) guided the ball past the Delhi custodian Nicolas Jacobi off a cross from the right.
While Lucas’ early hit had made the intentions of the hosts clear, Sharma’s opportunistic goal made them bask in self-belief and also brought much joy for the fans, who rallied behind the Lancers for most part of the match.
However, Delhi seized their moment very soon in the 27th minute when Australian Jeremy Hayward successfully converted a penalty corner.
Lancers had another opportunity of increasing their lead in the 38th minute, but India international Gurjinder Singh, just like previous matches of the HIL 2015 here, failed to convert a penalty corner. His hit kissed the cross bar and went wide.
Delhi were also guilty of failing to convert penalty corner on four occasions as every time their hopes were thwarted by Lancers custodian Andrew Charter. His efforts got him the man of the match award.
However, Lancers’ grip on the match and Charter’s brilliance ended minutes before the final hooter when Delhi’s Talwinder Singh (58th) deflected a pass from Gurwinder Chandi into the goal.
