India’s dream of entering their maiden Champions Trophy hockey final suffered a huge blow as they were defeated 2-4 by a dominant Australian side in their last league match here yesterday.
After a unproductive first half, Australia struck a brace of goals to stay 2-0 in their favour going into the half time.
From there on, the Australians dominated and notched up yet another goal to take a 3-0 lead. But India woke up with a goal from Raghunath via a penalty corner conversion in the 44th minute to make it 3-1.
Right from the first half, Australia made plenty of penetrations and earned many penalty corners to pile on the pressure on India. They were on the board when Mitton scored to put Australia 1-0 up after Sreejesh denied them for the opening 20 minutes.
Australia followed the opening goal with another one a couple of minutes later when Zalewski found the back of the net in the 23rd minute.
Australia came out attacking in the second half and extended their lead with Ogilvie in the 35th minute.
While Australia scored thrice till the 35th minute, India were yet to have a shot at goal and penetrated the Aussie circle only once. They did earn a penalty corner in the 43rd minute but no damage was done as Harmanpreet never got hold of the weak delivery.
India did make some movement towards the end of the third quarter but weren’t able to execute a move to pose any threat to the formiddable Aussie unit. The chance came their way with another penalty corner in the 45th minute and Raghunath opened the team’s account with a powerful strike.
Australia were not affected by the goal as counter-attacked to maintain the three-goal lead with the White goal moments before the third quarter whistle.
India converted another opportunity in the fourth quarter when a brilliant touch by Mandeep gave the team their second goal of the night.
They came out attacking in the fourth quarter, enjoyed lion’s share of the possession but failed to convert even one of the four penalty corners which they earned.
India played their best game in the last minute before the third quarter and within first two minutes of last quarter, but were quiet in the second quarter, and allowed the Aussie forwards to sneak through their defence and score freely.
Australia, who have already qualified for the final, sit comfortably at the top of the points table. India now need to wait for the last match between Great Britain and Belgium, whose result can still offer a slim chance for them to get to the final.
“It’s always a tough one, the match before you go into the final,” said Australia striker Blake Govers.
“We went out there to try and keep the momentum going, and we started off not too bad and got a bit of a lead.
“Then we started to slack off and they showed what good teams can do and they came back to hurt us. I’m glad to come away with the win and I’m looking forward to the final tomorrow,” he said.
India’s Manpreet Singh said: “It was not great to concede two goals before half time, but after that we played very well and had a lot of chances but it was not quite enough.”
Nevertheless, India will play in the bronze medal play-off match.