Kalinga Lancers eye revenge against UP Wizards

Kalinga Lancers will have revenge on their minds when they encounter Uttar Pradesh Wizards in a Hero Hockey India League (HIL) match at the Kalinga Stadium here Saturday.

Wizards scored four goals in the final quarter to trounce Lancers 5-1 in a home game Thursday and the Lancers will hope to turn it around this time.

Experienced Jude Felix-coached Lancers are practicing various strategies to win the game on their home turf, while Wizards are upbeat after their stunning win against the same opponents.

"We committed silly mistakes in the defence line, which was tactfully materialised by UP Wizards. We focussed more on the midfield and lost our ground in the fourth quarter," Lancers captain Vickram Kanth said.

The hosts will strive to win their second match at their home turf. They also have several talented players like Australian Russel Ford and Lalit Upadhyay in the forward line, Ryan Archibald of New Zealand and skipper Vickram Kanth in midfield.

Argentine Gonzalo Peillat and Indian Gurjinder Singh have dual responsibilities as defenders and penalty corner specialists. Kalinga Lancers will stick to their strategy of aggressive attacks from the first whistle and maintain pressure on the opponents.

"We are now working on those mistakes and will try not to repeat those. Tomorrow is a new match at our own turf in front of our fans. We are confident that we will deliver better results this time," Vickram, an Indian international, said.

Wizards' players are now brimming with confidence and very much motivated after getting back their lost form and will go all out to maintain their winning spree after tasting their first win.

With Dutchman Wouter Jolie and penalty corner specialist V.R. Raghunath as defenders, the Lucknow-based team will utilise all their big guns such as Australian Eddie Ockenden, Jeroen Hertzberger of the Netherlands and Ramandeep Singh in the forward line.

They also boast of Dutch players Bob De Voogd and Alexander Baart along with Indian S.K. Uthappa in the midfield and world class goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh.

Wizards player Jolie said: "After yesterday's win, our team is now in a good shape and we will take this form forward. Four goals in last eight minutes is really a motivating factor for us and we will continue with our aggressive game plan."

"Our team is now better composed and combinations are working well. There is still room for improvement and we will work on new things in tomorrow's match. We are looking forward to face Kalinga Lancers again."