Lucknow: Ranchi Rays eked out a laudable win of 2-0 against the home team Uttar Pradesh Wizards in the third edition of Hero Hockey India League 2015 at Major Dhyan Chand Stadium in Lucknow today. The win gave Ranchi Rays five points to take their tally to 14 points. They now share equal points with Uttar Pradesh Wizard in the pool standings.
Both the teams played attacking hockey from the first minute and tried to create chances in each other’s halves. While, Ranchi Rays went on with full enthusiasm and dominated the whole game, Uttar Pradesh Wizards failed to open their scoring account throughout the game.
The Ashley Jackson led Ranchi Rays had the first scoring chance when Trent Mitton had a fantastic strike-past against Sreejesh and pumped in a beautifully crafted field goal in the 13thminute of the game. Uttar Pradesh Wizards goalkeeper PR Sreejesh made some remarkable saves in the welcome stages of the game but the visiting team stood successful in finding the gap and put their ball in the net. By the end of the first quarter, Ranchi Rays had taken the early lead with a score of 1-0 on the board.
Appreciating the team’s performance Head Coach of Ranchi Rays, Harendra Singh said, "The team has been playing a fair game till now in the league and we were expecting favourable results today. Fortunately, we won the match. Looking at the intensity of the matches in this season none of the teams in the league can be considered weak and this year's edition of Hero HIL is turning out to be the most competitive one till date. Our man to man marking was well in place and our goalkeeper Lovell Tyler also did a good job in the match today. Today's match seemed to be more like Ranchi Rays Vs. PR Sreejesh. We will try and carry this form in the upcoming matches as well."
Speaking on the loss Head Coach of Uttar Pradesh Wizards, Roelant Oltmans said, "Ranchi Rays was a well organized side in the match today and played well during the entire match. We tried to chase them down and but failed to do so. The team did not perform as per the planned execution and therefore we lost the match. We had good opportunities but could not convert them into goals. Sreejesh did a really good job and saved a lot of goals.”
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