Antwerp, June 15 (IANS) Manpreet Singh’s 400th milestone international match didn’t go as he would have hoped, with India going down 2-3 to Australia in the ongoing FIH Hockey Pro League 2024-25 (Men) here on Sunday.

It was goals by Tim Brand (4′), Blake Govers (5′) and Cooper Burns (18′) that set up the victory for Australia, while Sanjay (3′) and Dilpreet Singh (36′) scored for India.

After getting off to a fine start, with an opening goal coming only in the third minute through the handy work of Sanjay, who picked up the rebound from a PC to put India ahead by 1-0, India lost the lead with Australia responding swiftly with an equaliser in the very next minute.

It was Tim Brand who scored sensationally, and only seconds later, Australia stunned India with a second goal through Blake Govers. There was little India goalie Krishan Pathak could do to stop the blazing Aussie attack.

It was perhaps one of the fastest 10 minutes in any game this far in the European leg of the tournament, with both teams living up to the billing, producing a high-octane encounter.

At the first quarter break, Australia was in lead by 2-1 and extended it to 3-1 when Cooper Burns struck one past Pathak in the 18th minute. This goal put India under the pump with Australia attempting to increase their advantage with fast-paced attack. The next few minutes saw both team trade PCs but neither found success, ending the first half with Australia leading by two goals.

Following the ten-minute break, India returned with fresh vigour to reduce the deficit. Good stick work was on display when Abhishek set up Dilpreet to score a fine field goal in the 36th minute. This was an important goal to keep India in the hunt, but Australian defence was relentless, not allowing any loop-sided marking in the circle.

With just one goal difference between the two sides, it was going to be a nail-biting final quarter. There were a few moments that could have brought India back in the fold with an equaliser but they couldn’t capitalize on the chances. Australia did well to restrict India in the final stretch to pick up the crucial winning points from this game.

“It is unfortunate we have lost six back-to-back matches here. It has never happened before but if you see, all these games have been very close and we have done well overall but have not been able to finish well. This is something we will deliberate on and try to bounce back in the upcoming matches,” stated Manpreet after the game.

–IANS

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