Punjab Warriors seek first home win at Surjit Singh Hockey Stadium

Jalandhar, 21 January 2013: Jaypee Punjab Warriors would look to set the record straight when they take on league leaders Uttar Pradesh Wizards at the Surjit Singh Hockey Stadium for a second time in the Hero Hockey India League here on Tuesday.

The Warriors have managed to get their campaign on track with a domineering victory over Dabur Mumbai Magicians after having lost all their first three games, including a 2-1 loss against the Wizards.

After that match Warriors’ skipper Jamie Dwyer had expressed his frustration about the team’s inability to find the goals that were needed to win matches. However, the team responded with a lot of gumption in Mumbai and managed to put four goals past the Dabur Mumbai Magicians custodian.

Dwyer was himself among the goal scorers along with Dharamvir Singh and Ranjit Singh and they should take that confidence into the match against the Wizards, who at this point are riding high on confidence having won two and drawn their third.

The Wizards are only one of the two unbeaten teams in the tournament so far and they have achieved this distinction on the back of a solid defensive display. Currently Wizards lead the standings with 12 points from three encounters while Warriors are fourth with eight points in this five-team league.

The one area of concern for the Wizards has been the form of their drag flick expert V R Raghunath, who hasn’t had a good success ratio in penalty corner conversion. But the Warriors know how dangerous the India international can be and their defence would do well by not allowing the likes of Jeroen Hertzberger and Teun de Nooijer to help the team earn short corners at will.

Also the Warriors defence would have to provide a lot more support to their goalkeeper Jaap Stockmann, who had been outstanding in the tournament so far and it has been thanks to his efforts that the margin of loses in the first three matches had stayed respectable for the hosts.

However on Tuesday, the Warriors would also have a vociferous crowd support t build the tempo and Australian coach Barry Dancer would be hoping to see the team gelling a lot more in the mid field as they seek their maiden victory on the home ground.

Commenting on tomorrow’s game Barry Dancer, Coach, Jaypee Punjab Warriors said “From now on, every match is going to be crucial for us in order to make it to the semi-finals. I am very pleased with the performance of the team in the last game against Mumbai. The win came at the right stage of the tournament and has boosted the morale of the side. We look forward to the game against Uttar Pradesh Wizards, who have done pretty well so far."

“Post our win yesterday the teams’ morale is really high and we would like to maintain this for our next game as well. We plan to take our games one by one and develop exclusive strategies for each of these matches. The warriors are a tough side, but we are ready to put up a fight and gain momentum in the matches to come” said Roelant Oltmans, Coach Uttar Pradesh Wizards.

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.