NEW DELHI: Already assured of a place in the semifinals, defending champions Delhi Waveriders and Uttar Pradesh Wizards played out a 3-3 draw in their final league game of the Hero Hockey India League (HIL), here on Wednesday.
VR Ragunath (20th minute, 53rd) converted two penalty corners for the Wizards while the other goal came from a field effort from Jeroen Hertzberger (34th).
For the Waveriders Andrew Hayward (45th) scored from a set piece while Australian Matt Gohdes (51st) and Kiwi Simon Child (52nd) scored two field goals.
Uttar Pradesh Wizards finished their league engagements with 32 points from 10 matches, the Waveriders accumulated 25 points from the same number of games.
Playing in front of home crowd, the Waveriders started on a bright note as just five minutes into the game the hosts got their first penalty corner but Rupinderpal Singh’s effort was saved by goalkeeper PR Sreejesh.
The Waveriders were again at the thick of things when Gurwinder Chandi’s shot from skipper Sardar Singh’s pass was brilliantly kept away by Sreejesh.
Seconds from the end of the first quarter, the Wizards earned their first penalty corner but failed to capitalise on the chance as both the teams failed to break the deadlock after the opening 15 minutes.
Five minutes into the second quarter, the Wizards won their second penalty corner of the match and this time Raghunath made no mistake to give the visitors the lead.
Wizards continued to dominate the and kept the pressure on the Waveriders with relentless attacks.
The Wizards doubled their lead in the third quarter through Hertzberger who guided in a Pardeep Mor pass from the right flank.
Down 0-2, the Waveriders pressed hard for goals and managed to score thrice in a span of seven minutes to take the upperhand hand in the match. They managed to pull one back in the 45th minute through a penalty corner.