New Delhi: After a shambolic show from the Indian women’s team against Germany, India men’s team shined, overcoming a goal deficit to thrash Ireland 3-1 in FIH Pro League on Friday. The Harmanpreet Singh-led side received from an early blow in the eighth minute after a strike from Jeremy Duncan, who scored for the Irish team from a field effort.
India were quick to bounce back in the match as Mandeep Singh scored a terrific field goal in the 22nd minute to level the scores. India continued the aggression with goals from Jarmanpreet Singh (45th minute) and Sukhjeet Singh (58th minute) who scored through penalty corner to guide the team to a convincing win.
First quarter belonged to Ireland
The first quarter of the match completely belonged to the Ireland team as they made multiple circle entries, taking the lead in the eighth minute when Duncan scored the opening goal with Indian defenders nowhere to be seen. Matthew Nelson’s assist set up the opening goal perfectly for Ireland as they made few more efforts, including a penalty corner but failed to increase the lead.
India snatch the lead
After that, India made all the efforts to bounce back in the game and eventually succeeded with Mandeep scoring a fantastic field goal in the 22nd minute. After the scores were equal in the 22nd minute, Ireland kept their defence solid and their attack well-structured to deny Indian side the lead for quite sometime. But India turned their fortunes and launched lethal attacks against Ireland’s defence.
While the second quarter earned them just a goal to draw the scores level, Indian men’s team worked hard in the third quarter to take the lead and eventually succeeded. It was finally the 45th minute of the game when India doubled their lead after they were awarded a penalty corner. Sukhjeet did the rest towards the end converting a fantastic penalty corner.
FIH Pro League: India will now take on Ireland in the return-leg on Saturday, with the side currently placed fifth in the standings with nine points from five games. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
