Hyderabad Sultans are a modest team. Their line-up does not consist of big stars and names. But on Wednesday, they displayed the form and presence of mind that was needed to win a game. Johnson Ekka scored the match-winner as Sultans registered a 1-0 win over Maratha Warriors and made it to the semifinals of the Premier Hockey League here.

Sultans are now on 11 points after completion of their league matches and are third on the points table after Chandigarh Dynamos and Bangalore Hi-Fliers. Warriors ended up with seven points after six matches.

The race for the last semifinal spot is on between Sher-e-Jallandhar (five points) and defending champions Orissa Steelers (eight points). Shers will have to win by a margin of more than six goals to make it to the semifinals.

Heartening display
The display from Sultans was heartening. Watching the young team play good and sensible hockey projected them to be bigger than they really are. The only experienced names in the team are midfielders Sardara Singh, Didar Singh and their Pakistani players Kamran Ahmed and Adnan Maqsood. The rest of the team is made up of junior players, some of whom are knocking on the doors of the senior India camp.

There were not many attacks from the Hyderabad team in the initial part of the encounter. There was the rare foray into rival territory from them. But they proved that it was no matter that they did not have too many attacks. The most important thing was that they scored.

The goal was a well-executed one. Sardara took a free hit from just beyond the striking circle and Didar collected the ball on the right flank. Didar shot inside the circle but the ball was saved by Warriors' goalkeeper Adrian D'Souza. On the rebound, Ekka was sharp enough to collect the ball and whip into the goal in the 14th minute.

Warriors displayed the form that was just not enough. The Maratha team, which has had far better games in the earlier matches in the league, would have done better had they made more effective use of their attacks. In fact, they attacked more frequently but when inside the circle, they just lost steam. To say they had no sting in their attack would be wrong. For, Pakistan's Rehan Butt and Korea's Kang Moon-kweon were very quick in some of the attacks they built up from the right flank. But all that went to nought when there wasn't ample support from the left and centre forwards to give the finishing touches. Former India player Vikram Pillay, playing in the midfield, moved up several times in the initial duration of the match and threatened the rival goal with repeated attacks. Sadly, nothing came off them.

Wasted chances
Even the three penalty corners they earned were not utilised. However, Warriors could not be completely blamed for their inability to convert the corners. That was simply because Sultans' Dutch goalkeeper Oscar tar Weme guarded his goal valiantly, even during some of the field goal attempts from the Korean forward Kang. That show under the bar earned Weme the man of the match award.

More than just the work of their goalkeeper, Sultans were the better unit overall. Sardar and Didar did a tremendous amount of work in the midfield to neutralise the work of the rival team. Even if Warriors managed to get past them, there were Diwakar Ram and Samir Baxla in the defence to foil their rivals' designs.

Thursday's match: Orissa Steelers vs Sher-e-Jallandhar (6.00 pm).