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, a mystical force that keeps hitting them where it hurts.
Pragmatically, performances are all that matters at this stage of the season, knowing where the team stands as they look to head to the Paris Olympics and match or better the bronze from Tokyo. 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 trending 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, succumbing to the inevitable, relentless Aussie attack. 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. It has consistently been India’s main source of goals, and while they scored two from set pieces in the previous match, they won just two as well.
“(Not winning enough PCs) 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 forwards in general.
“Our biggest focus is on the final third, we haven’t shown really anything offensively. We get there, disconnected kinda. There is a big emphasis on improving our counterattacks and keeping the ball for longer periods in the opposition half, and also do something with it. We haven’t won enough corners consistently in each quarter either.”
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 (with their solitary goal once again coming from a short corner). 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, as were Abhishek and Gurjant Singh later. The second brought about India’s goal, expertly converted by Harmanpreet.
India had chances to retake the lead in the second quarter, with Raj Kumar Pal and Abhishek both drawing out saves from Durst with reverse hits. Araijeet Singh Hundal, the tall forward who was getting his first match of the tour, also had many bright moments going forward. It certainly had the Aussies on the backfoot at least in the first half, prompting Tom Wickham to say at the half-time chat: “India have come to play!”
Australia course correct
Australia, of course, course-corrected in the second half and even sacrificed some of their intensity for passive, patient possession, not something you’d associate with them. India’s chances up front started to dry up even if they did have the occasional chance to counter. The ball control that Fulton hoped for in transitions was lacking though.
Another positive came in goal. Playing as the second goalkeeper instead of Krishan Pathak, Suraj Karkera had a stormer of a second quarter when he produced one of the saves of the series with his left glove to keep a fine strike from Lachlan Sharp out. The India No 3 did have a good game overall.
Fulton might have gotten most of what he wanted to see, but the end result wasn’t different. Eventually, 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.
