Bhubaneswar: Tom Boon scored his second hat-trick of the Hockey India League to help Ranchi Royals beat Hyderabad Toofans 3-2 in the Qualifier 2 and set up a summit clash with Kalinga Lancers, at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Sunday.As for Toofans, who finished runners up during the last season, they will take on HIL GC in the third-fourth place playoff match in the earlier game on Monday.Boon, who had already scored 15 goals in the league stage but missed out in the last game against Lancers, came back strong when it mattered and scored in the 13th, 15th and 34th minutes to lead Royals to victory. Meanwhile, Jacob Anderson (5’) and Amandeep Lakra (38’) scored for the Toofans.Boon, who celebrated his birthday with Mandeep Singh on Sunday, was pleased with how the team performed but he is a bit worried about the final, considering they will have to take the field in less than 24 hours. Lancers, on the other hand, will take the field after two days’ rest.“Hope physically we will be there. It’s going to be really tough. We have to give everything because afterwards it’s finished. So, I hope we will have some legs tomorrow (Monday) and that we will compete against the Lancers,” said the Belgian star, who now has 18 goals in his kitty.Earlier, Toofans began in brilliant fashion taking the lead in the fifth minute after a lovely run down the right by Rajinder Singh. After entering the D, he turned around and played the ball to Anderson past the melee of Royals defenders. Standing in front of an empty goal, all Anderson had to do was deflect it in and calmly did it to put Toofans ahead.However, after that it was all Royals as they took control of the game and started creating waves of attacks. They were duly awarded with their first PC a few minutes later. They failed to convert but won another within a couple of minutes and Boon was able to earn a penalty stroke from it.And from the stroke there was no denying the Belgian as he put it into the top-right corner with ease. Two minutes later he made it 2-1 as he converted their third PC of the match.In the second quarter both sides tried to take control of the game but neither succeeded. However, four minutes into the third quarter it was Boon again who struck from the PC to make 3-1 for the Royals.Four minutes later, Lakra pulled one back for the Toofans, but his efforts weren’t enough in the end as Royals defended really well in the final quarter to grab the win.
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