We overcame some anxious moments before putting it across South Africa 6-4 in the last of our pool matches in the Challenge Cup in Canberra. This second win in three matches enabled us to reach the final. Like last year, we will meet the hosts Australia in the final on Sunday.

Australia posted its third straight and equally emphatic victory on Saturday, thrashing the hapless Malaysians for a resounding 9-0 win. We witnessed this match till the Aussies took an assailable 7-0 lead. The Malaysians are here just to keep up their commitment that they made when they were hopeful of Athens berth. They failed to meet the benchmark at the Madrid Olympic Qualifiers last February, yet did not back out from the commitment. Without a clear cut objective in sight, any other country could have easily withdrawn but not the Malaysians.

We took an early 2-0 lead against the Africans, but then our players allowed complacency to set in. I introduced young, untried players at that time, as giving them chance is the objective of this pre-Olympic tour. I have no hesitation to say that the youngsters could not cope up with the pressure. I tried Sunil Yadav at right-half and forward Inderjit Singh Chadda in the midfield. Bharat Chetri got full first half and in then the time tested goalkeeper Devesh came for the second half.

South Africa, who will be in our pool at Athens, piled up four goals during the experimentation time including a brace from Greg Nicol, top scorer of many, many tournaments in the past. I did not alter my field despite conceding easy goals, as in my view the important things was to allow the players to settle and bid for our time to score goals.

A goal by the Africans seven minutes from either side of the lemon time, gave us moments of jittery. But once Prabhjot scored a field goal in the 46 minute, our fight back has truly started. Deepak Thakur made use of a right flank attack to even the scoreline 4-4. He was prominent again for the next goal, trapping the ball in off our last penalty corner from the pusher’s position. Gagan Ajit, who scored the opening goal, made the last goal too, paving way for our smooth passage to the final.

Considering the number of attacks we made, we could have managed more penalty corners than the six we got, but our forwards lack the ability to manufacture penalty corners. As I rested Len Aiyappa today, Bimal, Kanwalpreet and Arjun tried the penalty corners. We have mixed results so far in converting penalty corners.

I am not needlessly worried on conceding goals in the sense that as long as the midfielders and defenders take their lessons and understand their weaknesses. I feel our midfield and defence show improvement as the tournament wears on. I expect close matches in the second leg in Sydney unlike one sided matches here in Canberra.

Our final on Sunday is expected to be tough. Though we lost our pool match to the hosts, we have analysed that match and are well prepared for a reasonable show. Kawalpreet Singh and Prabhjot suffered minor injuries, I hope they will be ready for the Sunday final.