Hyderabad: Junior India striker Mandeep Singh scored a brilliant brace to power Delhi Waveriders to their maiden win of the Hockey India League Season 5 campaign in an 8-1 victory over Uttar Pradesh Wizards here on Wednesday.
Mandeep put the Waveriders 2-0 ahead in the fourth minute with a field goal. Skipper V.R. Raghunath led UP’s fightback with a penalty corner conversion in the 14th minute before Mandeep tapped in from close range to make it 4-1 at the stroke of half time.
Parvinder Singh (56th minute) and Austin Smith (58th) completed a dominant display for the home team. The win helped Delhi take fifth place with 10 points from four matches and consigned the Wizards to the bottom of the standings with eight. The Waveriders got off to a strong start when Mandeep latched on to a through pass and reverse flicked between the legs of goalkeeper Sreejesh P.R.
The Wizards mounted swift counter attacks but couldn’t convert opportunities until Raghunath reduced the margin. Waveriders began the second quarter by dictating the tempo of the game.
