Harpal Singh Bedi
Leader board topper India suffered their second successive defeat and were toppled from the top by Britain who beat Men in Blue 4-2 victory in the FIH Hockey Pro League encounter at the Lee Valley Hockey Stadium in London on Saturday.
On Friday India had lost to Belgium 1-2 and this afternoon goal margins doubled. as Britain took over the top position
Timothy Nurse (7′), Thomas Sorsby (32), Lee Morton (34′) and Nicholas Bandurak (54′) scored for the hosts while Captain Harmanpreet Singh (14′, 43′) reduced the margin for his side and in the process become the all-time best goal scorer in the FIH Pro League with 35 goals.
Backed by a boisterous home crowd, Britain got off to a roaring start with piercing attack trying to push their rivals on the backfoot right from the word go. Though India warded off an early shot on goal, a lapse in defence allowed new-comer Timothy Nurse to score a fine goal.
Nurse latched on to a good assist to score his first international goal, driving into the left flank and putting the ball past goalkeeper Krishan Pathak.
Though this goal put India under the pump, the visitors made an aggressive comeback when Mandeep Singh earned a penalty corner. In good nick, with 11 goals so far in this season’s League, Harmanpreet used a powerful drag flick to find the corner of the post beating goalie James Mazarelo to draw parity (1-1)with ease.
The 14th minute equaliser helped the visitors for the next quarter as they tested the hosts’ defence, creating three good penalty corner opportunities, but they could not convert the chances.
Adding to the team’s woes, a good referral by GB in 28th minute denied India a lead as it was ruled that the goal came off the back stick.
With seconds left for half-time, India conceded a penalty stroke while attempting to tackle the rival attacker in the top of the D from taking a shot on goal. guarding the post, experienced goalie PR Sreejesh was impeccable in his effort to foil Zachary Wallace effort to convert it.
But it didn’t take long for the home team to gain a comfortable lead in the match. Returning from the half-time break with score at 1-1 stalemate, the hosts changed gears as they produced some insatiable attack to score back-to-back goals. It was Thomas Sorsby who scored in the 32nd minute through a PC followed by a field goal in the 34th minute by Lee Mortan, putting Britain ahead 3-1.
With under 2 minutes to go for the third hooter, India was awarded a flurry of PCs. Not letting this golden opportunity go wasted, Harmanpreet executed a perfect flick to earn his side a much-needed breakthrough to narrow down the lead to 2-3.
This was not only Harmanpreet’s second goal of the match, but with this goal he also became the all-time best goal scorer in Pro League with 35 goals and also retained the top spot as the leading goal scorer in this edition of the League with 13 goals.
As the contest went into the last quarter, the two teams lived up to the billing, producing some nervy moments,. Only 90 seconds into the quarter, the hosts won a PC but Sreejesh was undeterred in his effort to pad the ball away.
Continuing to put pressure on the rival defence, Britain came up with a well-executed attack that fetched them a splendid field goal in the 54th minute. It was Nicholas Bandurak who scored ,taking their lead to 4-2.
Though India created some scoring chances, through Abishek in the following minutes, they could not find success. A PC opportunity, with less than two minutes left for the final hooter, brought some hope to Indian fans. But it was cleared off by defender Sorsby, thus ensuring the hosts three points from the win.
“We played better than yesterday; we had better control in our structure. I think there is room for us to improve in our defence. They scored two goals from the baseline, that is something we must watch out for and get better at defending.” said Harmanpreet after the match
About becoming all-time best goal scorer of the League, he said, “I am able to score because my team is able to create penalty corners, so this is a collective effort.”
India will next take on Belgium on 2nd June .