Antwerp (Belgium), 05 July 2015: India and Great Britain playing for the 3rd / 4th position of the FINTRO World Hockey League Semi-Final 2015, it was Great Britain who stamped its dominance as they went on to win the game 5-1 and India settling for the 4th position in the tournament.

The game between Indian and Great Britain started with great speed and vigor, showcasing the intent to score the initial goal. It was Great Britain who in the 11th minute got a penalty corner in their name and Alastair Brogdon did no mistake in finding the nets on the rebound shot which helped his team take the lead. Undeterred by the goal, India continued its attack on Great Britain as they looked for opportunities to score. But unable to capitalize, India was trailing the first quarter by 0-1.

The second quarter saw the same intent by the Indians as they maintained the pressure on Great Britain to score the much required equalizer goal. Unfortunately for India, in the 27th minute Great Britain looking at piercing through India’s defence saw a long pass by Nick Catlin from outside the semicircle towards the goal box and Chris Griffiths ensured that his touch on the ball went into the nets, leaving Sreejesh with no chance to react. With this goal, Great Britain doubled its lead to 2-0. In the dying seconds of the quarter, India went on the attack again in the D of Great Britain as they looked to open its account. But unable to yet again capitalise the first half ended 2-0 in favor of Great Britain.

Four minutes into the third quarter, Chinglensana from the right flank passed the ball to Akashdeep Singh in the D and who on his part was slow in capitalizing on the good pass.  37th minute India was seen again in the attack as a very good pass from Lalit Upadhyay to Ramandeep Singh in the D proved to be a golden chance for the latter as there was only the goalkeeper to beat. But unfortunately for Ramandeep, the opponent goalie saved and this was followed by an immediate counter attack by Great Britain, giving Ashley Jackson to convert the easiest of goal and was converted because of a good pass from Sam Ward which did the trick for them. Five minutes left for the third quarter to end, Great Britain had another go at the penalty corner but this time Sreejesh did no mistake in clearing the danger. 42ndminute there was another penalty corner for Great Britain and Adam Dixon finished the job as he deflected the ball into the goal box, taking the score to 4-0. This was closely followed by another brilliant field goal by Barry Middleton in the 44th minute and third quarter scores stood at 5-0 in their favor.

The fourth and final quarter saw the Indian team increasing its tempo of attack as they continued putting pressure on the defence of Great Britain. Half way into the quarter India had their first shot at the penalty corner and Jasjit Singh taking the flick was wide of the goal box. 56th minute Great Britain got one more penalty corner to their name and Manpreet Singh running out of the goal box averted the danger through his stick. Just a minute left into the game, India through a penalty corner opportunity saw Rupinder Pal Singh finding the nets giving the opponent goalie no chance to stop, taking the score to 1-5. With this India lost the game 1-5 and settling for the 4th position in the tournament.

 

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