A scintillating run of consecutive victories for the junior Men’s team of Indian hockey was brought to an unexpected end by the English team on Friday. Coming off the back of a humiliating 1-7 defeat, the home side managed to score twice and edge past the visitors by virtue of a slender one-goal margin in the fifth match of India’s tour of England.
Ed Horler was the first player to get his name onto the scoresheets with a well-worked field goal in the 13th minute. It could be said that there was a look of complacency about the way the young men in blue handled matters on the field in the first half.
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Several chances were created by a hard working midfield unit but none effective enough to alter the scoreline. At halftime, England led India 1-0.
The second half proved to be much more eventful with an increased pace adopted by both teams in an effort to improve their hold over the contest.
After a long wait, midfielder Nilakanta Sharma’s brilliant equaliser 3 minutes from the death did set up a possible revival of the Indian cause but Englishman Jack Clee struck almost immediately, thereby taking the game beyond India’s control and cutting short India’s impressive unbeaten streak with a 1-2 loss at Marlow.
