Ranchi, 18 January 2013: Ranchi Rhinos sounded the warning bells for all their opponents scheduled to visit the citadel of the Jharkhand team when they outplayed Mumbai Magicians 3-1 in their first home game of the Hero Hockey India League here on Friday.
The Gregg Clark coached side, whose slogan is ‘Nas nas mein hockey’ (hockey is in our blood), rode on the vociferous support of their supporters at the jam-packed Birsa Munda Hockey stadium to register their second straight victory in the competition and go on top of the league standings with 10 points.
Delhi Waveriders also have 10 points from two encounters but the Rhinos took the pole position due to better goal difference.
“To be honest I just have to say thank you Ranchi,” said Ranchi Rhinos skipper Moritz Furste after the match. “We are very happy the way we are playing and hope to continue the good run.”
Playing for the first time in front of their home crowd, the Rhinos were obviously a motivated lot and that showed every time they had the ball in their possession.
They pressed ahead in numbers and it was Vikas Choudhary who drew first blood for the hosts in the 10thminute when he poached a goal after a cross from the right.
The Rhinos dominated the proceedings throughout the first half and created numerous chances and were duly rewarded with two more goals before the half time mark.
In the 23rd minute, Mumbai Magicians goalkeeper P R Sreejesh stopped a shot from Moritz Furste but young Mandeep Singh was quick to pounce on the rebound and slotted home the ball.
Six minutes later, Choudhary turned creator when he showed the presence of mind to earn his team’s first penalty corner after dribbling past two defenders to enter the striking circle. South African Austin Smith made no mistake with the drag-flick.
Mumbai showed more purpose in the second half and created quite a bit of pressure on the home side and were duly rewarded for their effort when K Chinglensana Singh converted their second penalty corner on the rebound, 11 minutes into the second half.
The visitors continued to press ahead looking for goals but were thwarted by Rhinos goalkeeper Franscisco Cortes.
However, their challenge suffered a major blow when Anup Valmiki was shown the yellow card in the 62ndminute for a body tackle on the Rhino defender and that pegged the Magicians back when they needed all the fire power to stage a comeback.
Man-of-the-Match Birendra Lakra said at the post-match press conference that crowd supported them well and their houseful presence motivated them through-out the match. “For any team, playing at home ground is a pressure but the support we received today was very motivating,” he stated and added: “We had some problem of coordination among player in the beginning of the match but after spending few minutes on the turf, we overcame this problem.”
Mumbai Magicians’ coach Richard Charlesworth is still working the coordination among the players. “It takes time to develop good coordination among players and all teams are facing the same problem. We are working on it,” the coach added.
Skipper Liam De Young accepted the fact that there were soft errors for which the team lost today. “There are still some areas left where we need to work. Due to some basic errors, we lost the match today,” he said.
The Hero Hockey India League is organised by Hockey India with official sanction from the International Hockey Federation (FIH). The inaugural season is being played from January 14 to February 10, 2013 in a home-and-away format. The five franchisee-based teams, consisting of the top hockey players from India and around the world, will compete for the prestigious trophy. Hero Motocorp Ltd. is the Title Sponsor of the league while Airtel is the Associate Sponsor. Star Sports, who is the Broadcast Partner, will be telecasting all matches live.
In their next home match, Ranchi Rhinos will take on Delhi Waveriders on Tuesday 23rd January at 8 p.m. and Mumbai Magicians will play on Jaypee Punjab Warriors at Mumbai Hockey Association Stadium on 20th January at 8 p.m.
Tomorrow Uttar Pradesh Wizards will play their first home game when then take on league leaders Delhi Waveriders in Lucknow.
Man of the Match: Birender Lakra
Hero Goal of the Match: Austin Smith
Results
Ranchi Rhinos 3 (Vikas Choudhary 10, Mandeep Singh 23, Austin Smith 29)
Mumbai Magicians 1 (K. Chinglensana Singh 44)
Points: Ranchi Rhinos 5; Mumbai Magicians 1
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