Bhubaneswar, Feb 16: The Indian men’s hockey team made a brilliant comeback to down Spain 2-0 in a return leg match of the FIH Pro League here on Sunday.
India lost to Spain 1-3 in the first match of the leg on Saturday despite taking the lead through Sukhjeet Singh’s goal.
FIH Pro League
On Sunday, however, it waps a completely different looking Indian side as it dominated for most part of the match and scored two field goals through Mandeep Singh (32nd minute) and Dilpreet Singh (39th) to pocket full three points.
India will next play Germany here on Tuesday.
It was India who enjoyed the better share of ball possession and created more chances in the first two quarters but failed to capitalise those into goals.
India had the first chance in the fifth minute when Mandeep got a golden opportunity inside the circle, but the Spanish keeper Rafael Rivilla made a solid save to deny the Indian striker.
Seconds from the end of the first quarter, India earned back-to-back penalty corners, but Jugraj Singh faltered.
India custodian Krishan Bahadur Pathak made a fine save to deny Spain their first shot on goal in the 14th minute.
India dominated possession and pressed hard in the first two quarters, but failed to breach a resolute Spanish defence as both the teams failed to break the deadlock in the first half.
Two minutes after the change of ends, India secured another penalty corner but Spanish goalkeeper Revilla made double save to deny Jugraj.
But from the resultant free hit, Mandeep neatly deflected in Dilpreet’s pass from close range to hand India the lead.
Seven minutes later, Dilpreet scored his 32nd goal for India with a brilliant deflection after being set up by Mandeep and Gurjant Singh.
In the 43rd minute, Spain earned a penalty corner but their dragflicker Pepe Cunill missed the target.
India also got a penalty corner soon but Jugraj misfired again.
Trailing by two goals, Spain pressed on the accelerator, earning a couple of penalty corners in the final quarter but the Indian defence stood tall in the absence of skipper Harmanpreet Singh, who was rested for the game.
Indian women lose
The Indian women’s hockey team fought back twice before going down 1-2 in shoot-out against England after both the teams finished 2-2 in regulation time.
Paige Gillot (40th minute) and Tessa Howard (56th) scored from two penalty corners for England in the regulation timer, while India’s goals came from Navneet Kaur (53rd) and Rutuja Dadoso Pisal (57th). Kaur scored off a penalty stroke while Rutuja struck a field goal.
In the shoot-out, only Navneet scored for India while the likes of skipper Salima Tete, Sunelita Toppo and Lalremsiami faltered.
For England, Lily Walker and skipper Sophie Hamilton were on target in the shoot-out.
The win gave England a bonus point. India had earlier defeated England 3-2 in the first leg here on Saturday.
The Indian women will next play Spain here on Tuesday.
Spain beat Germany
Spain secured a narrow 2-1 victory over Germany in an intense contest in the FIH women’s Pro League.
A third-quarter strike from Luciana Molina proved to be the difference as Spain held on to claim full points.
Germany started strongly, with Aina Kresken opening the scoring just over a minute into the game, giving her side an early 1-0 lead.
However, Spain responded before the end of the first quarter, as Sofia Rogoski found the back of the net to level the score.
The second quarter saw a green card issued to Spain’s Clara Badia but both teams struggled to break the deadlock, heading into halftime on level terms.
Germany challenged a decision through a video review but Spain’s defense held firm.
Spain took the lead in the third quarter when Molina capitalised on an opportunity in the 38th minute, making it 2-1. (PTI)