Wizards too good for Punjab Warriors

Chandigarh, February 4
Punjab Warriors had a “lazy” day in office as they missed their chances and conceded soft goals to go down 3-0 against Uttar Pradesh Wizards here today.
It was a frustrating result for the hosts and their supporters as they watched at least half-a-dozen deflections go past the Wizards’ post, while Akashdeep Singh deflected in a Tobias Hauke cross at the end of the third quarter and Argentine Gonzalo Peillat converted a penalty corner in the dying seconds of the match.
It was an erratic performance from Punjab – especially in the last two quarters – with the team dropping from an electric to a pedestrian pace constantly. They created good chances from quick moves but then suddenly slowed down, struggling in attack and allowing the Wizards to dominate. And they wasted four penalty corners. Sardar Singh, embroiled in the rape controversy, played the whole match, but had very little impact. In fact, one of his lazy passes in the opposition’s third led to a dangerous counter-attack, and it was the quick-thinking of their goalkeeper Tristan Clemons that got them out of trouble.
“It was a lazy performance, more in the body than mind,” said Warriors’ Mark Knowles. “We missed many chances, but even so, we didn’t test (PR) Sreejesh enough. We didn’t have enough shots on goal.”
After two very exciting, but goalless, quarters, which saw the momentum shifting constantly, the Punjab team dropped in intensity. It didn’t help that one of their star players, Australian Simon Orchard, was shown a five-minute yellow card at the start of the third quarter.
Even so, the hosts had just one real goal-scoring opportunity. Matt Gohdes stretched out desperately to meet a wild raised cross from the left. The deflection needed a reflexive save from Sreejesh as the crowd, considerably better in number than the previous matches, let out a collective sigh.
The visitors, meanwhile, controlled that quarter. After a few missed chances of their own, the Wizards went 2-0 up in the 44th minute. Varun Kumar was too slow to control a loose ball and Agustin Mazzilli stole it off him in the Punjab third. The Argentine drew in the defender and reverse-flicked it to Hauke at the right edge of the circle. The German fired in a cross and Akashdeep made no mistake.
Punjab started the fourth quarter positively, but they again missed two chances right at the beginning. But from then on the UP team defended well, seeing the match through. For the Wizards, it was their second consecutive win after a string of losses.
“We had a break of six days before these two matches. It gave us time to regroup. This is the important phase of the league so we want to keep the momentum going,” said Wizards’ VR Raghunath.