New Delhi: Indian men got the better of South Africa 4-3 in the fourth match of the Five Match Hockey Test Series being played at Major Dhyanchand Hockey Stadium here on Friday ad in the process also roped in the series (3-1), with one match still to go.
Desperate to win to keep the series alive, South Africa took the lead when Justin Ross sounded the plank in the 14th minute and maintained it all through the first half, thwarting all attempts from the Indians to break their defence.
However, the second half witnessed a thrilling 35 minutes as after Yuvraj Walmiki equalized the score in the 44th minute, it was a goal spree from both the sides for the next 25 minutes. In the 50th minute VR Raghunath converted a penalty corner to give India a 2-1 lead and three minutes later Yuvraj made it 3-1 by scoring his second goal of the day.
However just a minute into the game, Ian Healey narrowed the margin to 2-3 for the visitors, but SK Uthappa soon found the wooden plank in the 56th minute to make it 4-2 for the hosts. After some anxious moments for the next eight minutes, the South Africans did manage to score a goal in the 64th minute through Austin Smith, but India finally managed to hold the visiting team at 4-3.
The match that saw high intensity from the first minute was a treat for the spectators present at the stadium. Both the teams were playing attacking goals which showcased in the final score. South Africa will rue the chances that they got especially the penalty corners. They got 4 penalty corners and were able to convert only one.
India on the other hand had better results with their shot corners. The host got 2 penalty corners and made both of them count. In the first one VR Raghunath took the shot as Sandeep Singh was not on the field. In the second Raghunath’s shot was stopped by the opponents goalkeeper but the deflection found Walmiki who capitalized and scored his second goal of the match.
In the dying minutes of the match the visitor’s did try to score and with the help of their captain’s goal did scare the Indian defense, but to no good effect.
In the post match press conference Indian coach Michael Nobbs said, “We are happy with the performance as winning was not our primary goal when the tournament started. We were trying to give every player the opportunity to play so that we can decide who to pick for the all important qualifier.”
“We allowed India to score 4 goals in the second half which is very disappointing. As an international team we should have never allowed them to come back in the match. We gave them the chance and India capitalized on them,” said Gregg Clark, South Africa coach.
By Gaurav Jha
Indian Sports News
