India posts 3-1 win against New Zealand ‘A’ in the opening match of the New Zealand Tour
New Delhi, 02 October 2015: Playing an aggressive game, the India Men Hockey Team defeated New Zealand A, 3-1 in the first match of the New Zealand Tour being played in Auckland today.
The first quarter started with New Zealand A going on the attack and earning two back-to-back penalty corners in the first few minutes. India’s star goalkeeper PR Sreejesh displayed his quick moves in front of the goal-box and thwarted both the attempts. Post that it was Ramandeep Singh who was seen brilliantly dribble past the opponents defenders giving a pass to forward Akashdeep Singh, who was quick to put the ball into the nets without giving any chance to the New Zealand custodian in the 3rd minute.
After conceding a goal, New Zealand A players attacked again and looked for opportunities to score equaliser. However, the Indian defenders restricted their moves and maintained pressure on the home team. The score-card remained 1-0 by the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Indians started with fierce attacks and kept the ball moving in the opponent’s half. In the 20th minute, Ramandeep sneaked into the defence-line and scored a field goal taking the score to 2-0. Inspired by Ramandeep’s goal, defender Gurjinder Singh sneaked into the opponent’s half and passed the ball to forward Nikkin Thimmaiah, who outfoxed defenders with his dribbling skills and hit the ball into the goal-box in the 26th minute. With this field goal, Indians were in lead with 3-0 by the end of the second quarter.
The third quarter started with an aggressive game from New Zealand A, who were lagging behind by three goals. They managed to keep the ball in the Indian half and tried to create opportunities to score goals. In the 36th minute, they earned a crucial penalty corner and successfully converted into their first goal. The Indians counter-attacked on the home team and created the pressure again. New Zealand was now playing a defensive game and kept their goal-box protected. The score-card stood 3-1 by the end of the third quarter in India’s favour.
In the fourth quarter, both the teams pushed themselves harder to score more goals as well as defend their goal-box. Indian forwards Ramandeep, Akashdeep and Nikkin kept the defenders busy and played most of the game in opponent’s half. After a series of attacks from India, the match finished at 3-1 in favour of the visiting team.
India will play their second match against New Zealand A on 3rd October 2015 in Auckland.