India rally to beat Scotland 41

LONDON: India conceded a surprise early goal but made a fine comeback by pumping in four quick goals to beat Scotland 4-1 in their opening match of Hockey World League Semifinals here on Thursday.

Scotland captain Chris Grassick struck as early as the sixth minute to stun the Indians who trailed 0-1 till the end of the first two quarters.

India, however, recovered and scored four times in the third quarter to run away with full points in the Pool B match. Ramandeep Singh (31st, 34th), Akashdeep Singh (40th), Harmanpreet Singh (42nd) were the goal scorers for India.

The first quarter belonged to the underdogs Scotland who displayed good attacking skills to put India on the back foot. They held on to the ball possession for a greater part of the first quarter keeping the Indians in the hunt.

While the Scottish goalkeeper Thomas Alexander was impressive with his saves, it was skipper Chris Grassick who got an early lead for his team with a splendid deflection that beat Vikas Dahiya to the post in the sixth minute.

It was a baseline pass by Kenny Bain picked up by Grassick perfectly to stun the Indian side. Both teams slowed down the pace just a little bit in the second quarter. India played cautiously, rotating the ball only to make well-calculated entries into the opposition striking circle.