FIH Series Finals | India would have liked to score more in first quarter against Russia, says Graham Reid
Hockey India
After India’s win against Russia in the first game of the FIH Series Finals, coach Graham Reid has said that the Indian team would have wanted to score more goals in the first quarter of the match. Reid has also added that he is impressed with the knowledge the Indian players have on the game.
With an aim of making it to the FIH Olympic Qualifiers, which will be held later this year, India took on Russia in their opening encounter of the FIH Series Finals. Although India won the match by a huge margin of 10-0 goals, chief coach Graham Reid wanted the team to have scored more goals in the first 15 minutes. India got opportunities to score from the very beginning of the match but were unable to capitalise on that. The first goal came only in the 13th minute as Nilakanta Sharma found the back of the net. India were only 1-0 up after the end of the first quarter.
“First quarter we gave away a couple of opportunity to them and we need to tighten up that area, we would have liked to score more in the first quarter. Very difficult to judge a team like Russia. Especially, they don’t play more often in the international calendar. We made sure that we prepare well,” Reid told reporters after the match against Russia.
Both the coach and skipper Manpreet Singh had earlier said that the team is working on the finishing in the D by the Indian forwards. When asked about the same to the coach whether he is happy with that performance against Russia or not, Reid replied, “A coach is never happy. But, I am satisfied with their performance. What I do know is that we can do a lot better. We created a lot of opportunities and we can do better.”
The FIH Series Finals is the first major tournament for the Indian team with Reid at the helm of affairs. The former Aussie player was appointed in last April and had toured his home country for a Test series as the coach of the Indian team. Reid also mentioned that he is happy to see the amount of knowledge the Indian players have.
“It’s interesting as teams we always a product of previous coaches. The guys had some quality coaches here. To be honest, I am very impressed with the knowledge these guys are having. The professionalism of these guys are amazing. Initially, in the first 3-4 months, I will have a look at where we are. There are always things where you can tinker with. I have talked to them to learn about the consistency of performance,” the coach explained.
India will take on Poland in their second Group A match of the tournament on Friday. The Polish unit had also made a good start to their campaign against Uzbekistan on the opening day and would like to come up with some plans against the hosts. India had thrashed Poland 10-0 earlier this year in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia. Reid opined that the Polish unit play a similar kind of hockey like Russia.
“Poland play a similar game like Russia. The guys are already looking at the footages of Poland and will be preparing overnight. I don’t like to change tactics too much depending on the opposition. It is about the way how we play and where we wish to e. We respect the opposition and we have to know the opposition but we also have to work on our own game. We will be playing our natural game,” Reid signed off.
