HIL 4: Manchester stands tall as Delhi slay Ranchi

Waveriders’ Mandeep Singh (left) celebrates with Mark Pearson after scoring against Ranchi Rays in their HIL-4 match in New Delhi on Thursday. The hosts won 7-4.

Delhi Waveriders delivered when it mattered the most, keeping their semi-finals hopes alive with a superlative 7-4 win over table toppers Ranchi Rays in their Hockey India League Season Four match here on Thursday.

A loss would have ended Delhi’s chance of progressing and the hosts came out all guns blazing to give the capacity crowd at Shivaji Stadium plenty to cheer about.

The forwards looked sharp while the defence line of Rupinderpal Singh, Surender Kumar and Vickram Kanth were vigilant. Devon Manchester sparkled under the bar, throwing himself at everything and deservingly picking up the man of the match award.

If Delhi survived a late onslaught from Ranchi, it was largely due to Manchester’s brilliant goalkeeping skills.

Ranchi are known for their attacking style and quick counter-attacks, but on the day Delhi foiled most of their attempts.

Visiting skipper Ashley Jackson, currently the second highest scorer behind Kalinga Lancers’ Glenn Turner, was heavily marked while attackers Sarvanjit Singh, Trent Mitton and Amir Khan too were kept quiet.

Ranchi tried for penalty corners and managed to earn eight of them but Manchester stood like a wall. It is not easy when one of the world’s best penalty-corner specialists, Jackson, is in action but Manchester was up for the task.

For once, the home strikers were on fire. Youngsters Mandeep Singh (7th, 42nd minutes) and Talwinder Singh (13th, 19th) struck twice each, while Ranchi’s reply came from Jackson (35th) and Mitton (50th) both scoring from field efforts. Delhi jumped to fourth in the points table with 23 points after nine games, while Ranchi lead with 27 from eight games.

Delhi dominated the opening quarter. Mandeep put the hosts ahead in the seventh minute when he directed a sharp cross from Iain Lewers into the net (2-0). It wasn’t long before Talwinder scored off a rebound on a penalty corner as Delhi enjoyed a 3-0 cushion in the opening quarter.

Ranchi were frustrated but kept up the tempo and pulled one back through Jackson.

The final two quarters saw both teams fighting hard with Delhi having the edge. Talwinder added another while Mitton helped Ranchi reduce the margin in the 50th minute.