Kalinga Lancers thrash Delhi Waveriders by 4-0

BHUBANESWAR: Continuing their winning streak at home, Kalinga Lancers on Friday defeated Delhi Waverriders by 4-0 in the Hockey India League 2016 at Kalinga Stadium here.

The victory also helped the host team to top the table with 22 points into their kitty.

The host team secured the win with two great field goals from Glen Turner, the team’s high scorer. The visiting team conceded their third defeat in a row.

Confident over two wins back home, Lancers began the match by playing some calculative shots putting pressure on Waveriders. And, with few minutes into the game, Glenn Turner opened the account for the host team tucking in a great field goal giving his team the lead in the match.

They also earned a penalty corner but failed to capitalise on it as the defenders of the Waveriders thwarted their attempt to past the ball into the goalpost.

The second quarter remained goalless as the defence of both the teams stood firm while the goalkeepers put up some good shows.

With the beginning of third quarter, Waveriders started playing some attacking shots in a desperate move to level the score and be in the game. But, the Lancers thwarted every move of the visiting team constantly building pressure on them.

Already under pressure following a defeat in the last two matches against Punjab Warriors and Uttar Pradesh Wizards, the Waveriders were struggling to register a goal.

The strikers of Lancers also adopted the same game plan to built pressure on the visiting team. However, both the teams failed to strike any goal in the third quarter as well.

In the fourth quarter, Delhi had a couple of chances to score. But, they could not capitalise the opportunities into goals.

Lancers were controlling the ball well throughout the game not giving Delhi too much possession to get back into the match. Building constant pressure on Waveriders yielded good results to the host team, who earned their much-needed goal in the last minutes snatching the match from Waveriders.

The goal again came from the stick of Glenn Turner, who successfully smashed the ball to the goalpost.