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India

Chandigarh: From a heroic start to a tragic finish. India followed a confused script before the happy ending went to Spain, with a 3-2 win over the hosts in the first Test at the Sector 42 Hockey Stadium yesterday.

Cameo roles for India were played by Sandeep Singh (14th minute) through a short corner, and Hari Prasad (18th minute) capitalising on the loose opportunity given by Sandeep Michael. But before the interval, Santi Freixa scored twice (26th and 30th) to give the tourists a chance.

However, the hero for Spain was Eduard Arbos who angled in a ball from right, to send home a winner just two minutes before the show could end.
Indian coach Gerhard Rach’s review of the match said it all.

‘‘We missed a lot of chances. Ignace missed twice and Sandeep Singh once. Had they scored, we could have turned tables on Spain,’’ Rach said.

Rach also missed the man who was supposed to play the lead role. ‘‘We couldn’t play Dilip Tirkey the way we wanted. Things may have been different if the captain had played for the entire 70 minutes. But we didn’t want to take a risk and aggravate his ankle injury,’’ Rach said.

Spanish coach Maurits Hendriks picked his villain from India. ‘‘Number 28 is a dangerous player. He had a very good game,’’ Hendriks said. He also pointed out to some of India’s foolish techniques.

‘‘Sandeep (Singh) is more than a drag-flicker. However, defensive scoops ended up in loss of ball possession. It made no sense to me,’’ he said.

He also defended his cast. “Remember we landed only 24 hours ago. The boys need sometime to rejuvenate from the long journey,” he said.

Match highlights


• 14th minute: Sandeep Singh’s grounder is on target.

• 18th minute: Hari Prasad juggles the ball on his stick before beating the Spanish custodian Bernardino Herrera after receiving a pass from Sandeep Michael.

• 26th minute: Fast raid from Spain from the left. Eduard Arbos takes the first hit at the goal. Adrian D’Souza defends with a slide. Santi Freixa is quick to pounce on the rebound and scores.

• 30th minute: Counter from Spain again. David Alegre takes it to the backline from the right and minuses for Freixa, who leaves Adrian stunned.

• 68th minute: Alex Fabregas runs down the centre and passes the ball to Arbos, who angles it perfectly from the right to beat Devesh Chauhan.

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