HIL Men – Lancers book final berth; Royals and Toofans to fight for the other spot

Vedanta Kalinga Lancers relied on Alex Hendrickx’s brilliant brace to edge past Ranchi Royals 2-1 in the keenly-fought Qualifier 1 and book a spot in the Hockey India League final at the Kalinga Stadium here on Friday.

Lancers will wait for their next opponent, while Royals will take on Hyderabad Toofans in Qualifier 2 on Sunday to explore another opportunity to reach the summit clash.

Toofans rode on their lively forward Shilanand Lakra’s double strike to beat HIL GC 2-0 in the eliminator.

Royals threatened the host citadel early and came close to scoring when Araijeet Singh Hundal passed inside the circle and Mandeep Singh shot over the bar.

After that, Lancers dominated the first quarter and went 1-0 up in the 12^th minute. The home side predominantly used the left flank to keep the Royals’ defence busy. They earned three penalty corners, out of which Hendrickx converted the second one with a powerful low flick that got deflected into the goal off a postman’s stick.

Despite the absence of Josh Beltz due to a finger fracture, Royals displayed better ball control to get four short corners in the second period but Tom Boon and Sam Lane could not benefit from those.

Lancers kept their cool to not only defend solidly but to launch some counters before going into the half-time with their lead intact.

Maintaining a good structure and fine coordination, Lancers handled the third quarter well and extended their lead through Hendrickx’s second strike off a short corner in the 32^nd minute.

Royals’ persistence helped them close the gap by converting their fifth short corner with a beautiful variation. Mandeep spectacularly dived forward to deflect Lane’s shot.

Even though Royals built the pressure in search of an equaliser, Lancers’ defenders blunted the moves in closing minutes to delight the home fans.

The results:

Qualifier 1: Vedanta Kalinga Lancers 2 (Alex Hendrickx 12-pc, 32-pc) bt Ranchi Royals 1 (Mandeep Singh 40-pc); Eliminator: Hyderabad Toofans 2 (Shilanand Lakra 16, 39-pc) bt HIL GC 0.