Women’s Hockey World Cup | England punctures India’s hopes by managing a draw
The Indian women’s hockey had to settle for a 1-1 draw against England in the group stage match on Saturday at the Hockey World Cup despite having started off really well in the first half. England’s equalizer at the eleventh hour has punctured India’s hopes of defeating the Olympic champions.
India’s coach Sjoerd Marijne was left confused after drawing the match from a winning position.
Rani Rampal and Co were shell-shocked after the match. The team displayed resilience, fighting spirit and played with a never say die attitude throughout the match, especially goalkeeper, Savita Punia, who was brilliant. On the other hand, the hosts lacked accuracy and were not clinical with their shots inside the circle.
Considering the strength of the English side, the Indians stuck to their strategy of focusing on the defense initially and then look for goals which had worked for them at the Commonwealth Games. Everything went as per plan in the first half with the commentators even prompting that the first half belonged to India. In contrast, the circle entry statistic read 7-4 in the favor of the hosts.
England applied pressure in the second half by making eight circle entries as compared to India’s five. However, after Neha Goyal scored the first goal of the match, it was all in favor of the hosts. England showed intent despite being 1-0 down and applied pressure on the Indians who seemed helpless. Skipper Alex Danson led from the front as she managed to earn a few penalty corners at will. Indians knew that a 1-0 lead against a team like England was not enough.
With eight minutes left on the clock, England withdrew their goalkeeper in a hope of scoring a goal. Lily Owsley scored an equalizer in the closing minutes despite Savita’s save. India would now have to focus on scoring more goals (which can happen only by more circle penetrations and penalty corners) keeping in mind that only two victories can take them through to the quarter-finals.
