Hockey India League: Mumbai Magicians bloom too late in the day

Mumbai Magicians stunned Uttar Pradesh Wizards 3-2 on the latter’s home turf at the Dhyan Chand Stadium, Lucknow, on Tuesday. Though the result was inconsequential given that the Wizards had already entered the semifinal before this game, but losing to the Magicians, who  moved from lowly sixth to fifth after Tuesday’s win, was not the ideal way to finish off the league phase. Incidentally, of the Wizards’ four losses this season, three have come at home.

This was Magicians’ second consecutive win after having registered a 3-2 victory against Kalinga Lancers in their previous match.

Though the Magicians had an upper hand in the first quarter, they could not score.  Wizards striker Nithin Thimmaiah broke the stalemate in the 22nd minute through a field goal. However, Gurjinder Singh made full use of a penalty corner awarded to the Magicians nine minutes later to level the scores. Then Prabhjot Singh collected a well-timed pass from the right in the 56th minute and sent the ball into the goal to give the visitors a 2-1 lead.