Perth, Australia, 8 October 2017: India A Men’s Hockey Team finished their 2017 Men’s Australian Hockey League campaign with a 4th placed finish after they lost 2-3 to New South Wales in a well fought Bronze Medal match here today. India scored two early goals through Simranjeet Singh (3’) and Affan Yousuf (9’) which were eclipsed by New South Wales in the last two quarters as they scored through Tom Craig (39’), Simon Orchard (55’) and Lachlan Sharp (56’).
India started the Bronze Medal match strongly as they pulled off a wonderful team move which saw Simranjeet Singh scoring his first goal of AHL 2017 in the 3rd minute. India had six attempts at the NSW goal within the first quarter and were constantly putting their defence under pressure. Affan Yousuf scored his third goal of this year’s AHL when he beautifully finished a field goal in the 9th minute to extend India’s lead to 2-0 with three quarters remaining.
The second quarter saw a similar story as India dominated possession but it was the New South Wales side who had more circle entries and shots at goal, but were kept out by the Indian defence. In the third quarter, New South Wales stepped up their efforts to get a goal back in which they were successful as Australian International Tom Craig scored a field goal in the 39th minute. The teams ended the third quarter with India leading 2-1.
New South Wales continued their rhythm into the fourth quarter as they tried to get past the Indian defence. The Indian defence did well to stop the Australians from scoring until New South Wales scored two goals in two minutes to make a comeback into the match. Simon Orchard scored a field goal in the 55th minute to level the scores at 2-2, and in the 56th minute, it was Lachlan Sharp who scored the winner for his team.
New South Wales won the Bronze Medal match with a score-line of 3-2 after having gone behind to India’s two early goals.
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