The Kalinga lancer’s players are confident and excited to put a good show in the inaugural match against Jaypee Punjab Warriors at Kalinga Stadium here on Tuesday, said coach Terry Walsh in the Press Meet here on Monday.
“We are going to start our first league match against the team who had already played two league matches. Our team is a good combination of experience and young players. With our strong defence and backline players we can destroy any strong attack of opponents,” added Walsh. All most all the Hockey India league teams are having many quality and professional players. The matches would be top clash, the team who every have the control over their nerves would produce the results. In the team we are having two Australian players Russell Ford and Glenn Simpson, who have experience of 20 HIl games under their belt. Russell Ford will play a major role in the team’s performance as his play in attack along with Argentina international lucas Vila will decide how the team fares in the tournament. The pressure in midfield will be taken up by Ryan Archiabald. A veteran of 250 caps, Ryan Archibald will have to lead the midfield and support the strikers. Also, Prabhodh Tirkey’s experience of playing in Indian colours will help Kalinga lancers, added Walsh. Regarding the climatic condition, it was hot and humidity in the day time, but in the night it will be different. The ground is bit slow. We should not forget that our opponent is coming from a cold climatic condition, we will take advantage of the situation as the players had spend already one week in this condition, added Walsh. More the 100 caps international experience of Probodh Tirkey and me definitely help our team composition. Right now I came to know that on Tuesday the skipper Probodh is going to celebrate his third wedding anniversary, as a team we will try to make the day more memorable, said captain Kiel Brown. Playing in front of local spectators and in the home ground defiantly has some pressure, but I am excited. Under the guidance of coach Terry Walsh all the players are jubilant and giving 100 percentage of their effort to carry forward the game plan, said Prabodh Tirkey .