England brutally exposed India's defensive weaknesses beating the hosts 3-2 at the Hockey World League Finals in Bhubaneswar on Saturday
England brutally exposed India's defensive weaknesses beating the hosts 3-2 at the Hockey World League Finals in Bhubaneswar on Saturday. A packed stadium came expecting another furious encounter after India's 1-1 draw with Australia. Hearts sank when England took a 2-0 lead and then expectations sky-rocketed after India had equalised through Akashdeep Singh and Rupinder Pal Singh. But in the 4th quarter when India should have sensibly held the ball and used either first touch or displayed solid control, they kept giving turn-overs which dismantled the late surge as Sam Ward got the match-winner, also his second of the match.
Middleton Barry (17) of England carry the ball as Indian player Mandeep Singh (11) and Sannuvanda Uthappa (15) look on during the Men's Hockey World League Final 2017 in Bhubaneswar on Saturday.Pic/ PTI
A downcast Indian captain Manpreet Singh didn't have the right words to describe the match so he stuck to the usual 'after defeat' story: "There were too many errors as the coach just mentioned. Hopefully, we will try and figure out a way. We couldn't attack much and we will need to do that in the next match so that we can get more PC's." It wasn't a match which India would be proud off despite the close margin. But for large parts of the match, especially in the 2nd and 3rd quarter, India was usually trying to bring some discipline into their game.
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