India beat Scotland 4-0, Eves out of semis

Prabhjot Singh/TNS

Scoring twice in each half, India notched up a comfortable 4-0 win over Scotland to stay in contention for a berth in semi-finals from pool A of the men’s hockey competition of the Commonwealth Games.

In an action packed match played before nearly full historic Major Dhyan Chand National stadium, men team continued from where the women’s team had left in an earlier match. Cautious about the possibility of goal difference coming their way in deciding the teams going to the medal round, India had set a target of scoring a minimum of five goals to attainable a favourable goal average difference over Pakistan who lost an earlier game to defending champions Australia.

India now plays Pakistan and Australia take on Malaysia on Sunday.

Meanwhile, playing a consistent game of classic hockey, Indian girls defeated South Africa 3-1 in their last pool A match but failed to make it to the semi-finals.

Though runners-up in the last edition of the games, Indian women have failed to make the semi-final grade for the first time in their three appearances in the Games. It had been their complacency in the earlier three matches that proved costly for the home girls.

Though South Africa and India had seven points each from four games they played in the league matches, the former made it to the medal round on better goal average.