Marines sink Cheetahs8217; semifinal hopes with resounding victory

victory,spoilt their southern rivals8217; chances with some fine

defending,especially by their captain Adrian D8217;Souza,who

kept the scoreboard clean with some splendid saves,and some

opportunistic strikes up front.

Cheetahs,who needed nothing less than a victory to push

out Pune Strykers and finish third in the league,failed in

their endeavour despite forcing a spate of penalty corners as

their drag-flick expert Imran Warsi failed to beat rival custodian and Marines captain Adrian D8217;Souza till the fag end

of the game.

The result knocked Cheetahs out of the competition along

with the Marines and the semi final line-up is: Chandigarh

Comets versus Pune Strykers at Bangalore and Shet-E-Punjab

versus Karnataka Lions at this venue.

Both the semi finals are to be held on April 1 while the final will be held at this venue on April 2.

The Marines struck twice in the opening half through Xess Banmali,a field effort in the third minute,Ajmer Singh who converted a penalty stroke in the 21st minute after Sushil

Topno8217;s stick was hooked by Cheetahs8217; custodian C Santosh,and in the 61st through a superb strike by Australian Troy

Sutherland to take a commanding 3-0 lead.

Cheetahs8217;,who wasted eight short corners with their expert Imran Warsi repeatedly foiled by Olympian Adrian,finally opened the account in the 65th minute when the Pakistani ace at last got the ball past the Marines skipper.

However,the Marines scored their last goal to complete the visitors8217; humiliation when Aijub Ekka sounded the board from an unmarked position to complete the rout.

The Marines started positively with some incisive moves

but Joga Singh,their top scorer with 7 goals under his belt,

dithered inside the 8216;circle8217; and was easily dispossessed of the ball on a few occasions.

The home team,playing at their venue after almost a

fortnight8217;s gap,forged into the lead in the third minute

through a move on the right side. A crowded area saw the ball

passed from the by-line to the unmarked Xess Banmali who

struck home with a reverse hit from 10 yards out.

The southern Cheetahs,who have mostly depended upon

their penalty corner expert Pakistan8217;s Imran Warsi to

score got three set-piece opportunities within a ten-minute

period in the second quarter.

The first one led to the second and on the last two

occasions Mumbai captain Adrian DSouza foiled the powerful

drag-flicks of Warsi.

While the Cheetahs made moves mostly down the left flank

with good feeds from the midfield essayed by captain Brent

Livermore and Vikram Pillay,with Adam Silnclair moving in

dangerously down the left by-line,it was the Marines who

struck off a counter attack in the 21st minute of play.

A quick move down the middle saw Sushil Topno free inside the circle and he was about to shoot when Cheetahs

goalkeeper C Santosh hooked his stick and the resultant

penalty stroke award was converted by deep defender Ajmer

Singh to give the Marines a 2-0 lead.

Cheetahs forced three more short corners in the remainder of the first half,off which DSouza saved two while Devinde Walmiki cleared the rebound off the third after his captain had blocked the drag-flick by Sunil Yadav when Warsi was off the field.

At half time the Marines led 2-0 and maintained that in a barren third quarter.

And the home team effectively buried the visitors semi final hopes in the last quarter with nine minutes left for the final hooter off a fine goal by Australian Troy Sutherland who first-timed the ball into the board off a lovely and long through ball from Devinder Walmiki.

Though Warsi finally succeeded with his drag-flick off the ninth penalty corner award for the Cheetahs,it was too

late in the day to make any difference and to put the icing on

the cake the Marines scored for the fourth time with just

seconds left when Ekka sounded the board.

However,despite the victory,the marines finished last in the eight team league.