Rajendra Prasad Mohapatra
Bhubaneswar, Jan 18: UP Wizards continued to be the nemesis for hosts Kalinga Lancers as a last minute Akashdeep Singh field goal helped the visitors defeat the hosts 8-6 in the inaugural match of the fourth edition of the HIL here Monday at the Kalinga Stadium. The Lancers once again proved fallible in the last moments of the game conceding twice in the final two minutes of the match.
The first quarter was dominated by Lancers who had 60 per cent of ball possession. But UP were more opportunistic as they struck in the eighth minute. Wouter Jolie scored a beautiful field goal with a brilliant strike from the right side of the ‘D’. Then they became more aggressive and Kenneth Bain scored the second goal for UP in the 14th minute and suddenly the visitors were up 4-0 as each field goal is being counted as two in this edition of the event.
In between Lancers got a penalty corner in the 10th minute, but failed to convert. However, they reduced the margin as Pradeep Mor opened the account in the 15th minute with a field strike and the teams entered the break with the score reading 4-2 in UP’s favour.
The second quarter saw hockey at its aggressive best. Both teams fought hard in the middle but it was a Lancers’ show all the way. UP got an opportunity in the 23rd minute, but goalkeeper Andrew Charter made a brilliant save. Then Glenn Turner restored parity with a lightning strike in the 28th minute. The first half ended with the scoreline reading 4-4.
Both the teams upped their ante in the third quarter. Bolstered by the cheers of home fans, Lancers displayed aggressive intent and Turner struck in the 36th minute to make it 6-4 in favour of the home team. Then Charter made a brilliant save in the 43rd minute again to thwart Wizards’ hope.
In the fourth quarter, Lancers continued to press and it seemed at any moment, the UP citadel would fall again. However, Lancers were guilty of missing a couple of opportunities that could have easily put the game out of reach of the visitors.
But then that did not happen and the Wizards reaped results for their efforts. After Charter had saved two penalty corner attempts and a stroke in the 57th minute, Edward Ockenden struck the equaliser in the 59th minute from another field goal. And then immediately after resumption came the Akashdeep goal to completely dash an evening which could have easily turned out to be a happy for the hosts.
Turner of Lancers was adjudged man of the match, but then he would certainly have been happier if the team had won.