HIL: Ranchi Rays win hearts, Delhi Waveriders playoffs berth
The visitors could have been ahead 6-0 five minutes later, but for the two disallowed goals.
New Delhi: The pre-match statistic showed that Ranchi Rays needed to defeat Delhi Waveriders by an eight-goal margin in what was the last league match for both teams in the Hockey India League-5 here on Tuesday evening.
At stake was a semi-final berth and none could fathom that the two-time champions would come up with mesmerising stuff that saw them win many hearts, but not an entry into the playoffs. For the record, Ranchi won 6-2 and had almost knocked Delhi out of contention till a late surge saw the hosts seal their place in the playoffs for a fifth consecutive time.
Delhi finished their league engagements on 23 points from 10 matches — the same as Ranchi — but advanced on a better goal average (+5) to that of the visitors (-1).
If one were to keep aside the result and its implication on the standings on the day, no words were enough to praise Ranchi who came up with perhaps their best showing of the tournament.
Fast, furious, extremely organised in defence and equally menacing in attack — Ranchi dished out dream stuff in the opening two quarters and it seemed Delhi were on the ground only for attendance.
In-form Manpreet Singh put Ranchi ahead 2-0 in the ninth minute when he connected from a Christopher Ruhr cross from the right to set the tempo of the match. The visitors could have been ahead 6-0 five minutes later, but for the two disallowed goals. Delhi, at this stage, were stunned and completely on the back foot. In the opening 15 minutes, they had not even come close to having a whiff of Ranchi’s Dee.
Delhi goalkeeper Vincent Vanasch and defenders Rupinderpal, Iain Lewers and Surender Kumar were constantly at work and gave a good account of themselves, surviving a wave of attack and the visitors’ hard-press tactics.
Manpreet (32nd) and Imran Khan (37th) scored brilliant field goals just five minutes into the second half and suddenly Ranchi seemed well on their way to the playoffs. They were ahead 6-0 and there were still 23 minutes to go.
Delhi got their act together and matched Ranchi in the final quarter, that saw them play an attacking game. They finally got the scoreboard moving Rupinderpal’s cross from the centre saw Justin Reid-Ross put it past Ranchi keeper Tyler Lovell (6-2) in the 45th minute. The last quarter had plenty of action but no further goals as Delhi joined Mumbai and Kalinga in the semis.