Lucknow, Feb 17 (IANS): After a convincing win against Kalinga Lancers Sunday at their home ground, the Dabur Mumbai Magicians are set to take on the Uttar Pradesh Wizards in their last match of the Hockey India League (HIL) here Tuesday.
Wanting to keep the momentum running, the Magicians will be eyeing to bag their second consecutive win and finish fifth in the league. On the other hand, the Wizards will be playing to retain third position before entering the semifinals.
"We all believed in the team and it is a good feeling after winning yesterday's match against Kalinga Lancers. It certainly gives a boost to the team's morale. It was a little disappointing performance in the league but if we end on a high, it will certainly help the performance of the team get better next year," Magicians captain Glenn Turner said.
The Wizards lost their match against the Jaypee Punjab Warriors and were held back from securing second position in the table. The Wizards will not only look at securing the position that they are in presently, they will even be looking at going to the next level with confidence.
At one side, a much motivated Magicians’ squad with the likes of Turner, Mark Gleghorne, Ravipal Singh and Sarvanjit Singh looks in no mood to settle down at the bottom of the pool and will play to snatch away the points from the Wizards.
On the other hand, making it even tougher for the Magicians will be the mighty Wizards with the likes of V.R. Raghunath, Nikkin Thimmaiah, S.K. Uthappa and Teun De Nooijer, who have been responsible for gliding the team into securing a semifinal berth. The hosts will look forward to overcome their last defeat and strengthen their position in the league.
Speaking on team and expectations, Magicians head coach M.K. Kaushik said: “The idea was always to win every match that we play. We have a good squad but a lot of injuries, starting from the first match, held us back. The team has worked as one unit in the entire tournament, showing good defence skills. For tomorrow, the team has to recover and adapt according to the weather and the ground conditions.”