The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Hockey: India lose fourth straight game against Australia
If your glass is half full, you could say the indian men' s hockey team put up their best performance yet on the tour of Perth. If your glass is half empty, you could say Australia continue to be India's kryptonite.
Pragmatically, performances are all that matters at this stage of the season, knowing where the team stands as they prepare for Paris. But at some point, the habit of losing repeatedly to an opponent who are in the same pool is bound to leave some scars.
India's 1-3 defeat against Australia on Friday certainly had some positive takeaways. but ultimately,it' s a fourth straight defeat and an upward tr ending performance graph shouldn't take the focus away from the inability to win –or even manage a draw–against the Kookaburras. One of those positives is that for the third time in four matches, India had a lead to protect. Captain Harmanpreet Singh powered home a thundering drag flick in the 12th minute, the ball thudded on the board to send out a ringing noise around the venue. But for the third straight match, India let the lead slip. This time around too Jeremy Hayward was at the heart of it all. His goals (19’,47’) helped australia turn the deficit around, in the end, Jack Welch (54’) rounded it off, with all three aussie goals coming from penalty corners too.
Before the match, India head coach craig fulton told the broadcasters that he wanted to see his side win a few more Penalty Corners. "(Not winning enough P cs) concerns us because we score 1 from 2 or 3 chances we create. Our PCS are good but we are not getting enough of them," Fulton said. But he also wanted to see more from the forward sin general ." our biggest focus is on the final third, we haven' t shown really anything offensive ly. we get there, disconnected kinda. There is a big emphasis on improving our counterattacksand keeping the ball for longer periods in the opposition half, and also do something with it."
To be fair to India, they ticked both those boxes. Give or take a few retakes, India won at least six PCS through the match. And the forwards too tested Australia's goalkeeper Johan Durst more often, and the Aussie custodian had to pull off a few sharp saves.
As early as the first minute, Mandeep Singh was found in the circle with a superb diagonal pass by Harmanpreet, the forward made space and took a strike on goal but it was straight at Durst. Mandeep was instrumental in India winning their first PC. The second brought about india' s goal, expertly converted by Harmanpreet.
India had chance store take the lead in the second quarter, with Raj Kumar Pal and Abhishek both drawing out saves from Durst with reverse hits. It certainly had the aussie son the back foot at least in the first half, prompting Tom Wickham to say at the half-time chat: "India have come to play!"
Australia course-corrected and sacrificed some of their intensityfor patient possession. the ball control that Fulton hoped for in transitions was lacking though.
Fulton might have gotten most of what he wanted to see, but the end result wasn't different. As much as India huffed and puffed, the Australian house wouldn't be broken down again. A fifth and final chance presents itself on Saturday.