The Tribune

Terrassa (Spain), August 13

India’s perennial habit of conceding last-minute goal undid all the good work and the visitors went down 4-5 in their third and final hockey Test against Spain here.

India came back from a 1-4 deficit to level the score, but Albert Sala’s 70th minute strike crushed their hopes, last night.

Xavi Ribas (8th), Eduard Tabau (12th), David Alegre (25th), Alex Fabregas (27th) and Sala (70th min) were the goal-getters for Spain, while India reduced margin through Sardara Singh (28th), Vikram Pillay (54th and 57th) and Sandeep Singh (66th min).

India had received a 2-8 mauling at the hands of Spain in the first Test before the visitors pulled one back by winning the second match – a truncated friendly of 20 minutes each half – by a solitary goal.

India now travel to Amsterdam for the final leg of their Europe tour, where they play Holland on Friday and Sunday.

The hosts began aggressively last night with constant raids on the Indian defence by Tabau and Xavi Lleonart supported by strong midfield overlaps.

India conceded a penalty corner in the eighth minute when the ball struck skipper Sandeep Singh’s foot and Ribas made no mistake as he sunk one low on the left of goalkeeper Adrian Dsouza.

Indians soon conceded another soft goal as Tabau breached the defence of Sandeep and Sardar Singh and beat D’souza with a wrong foot shot in the 12th minute.

Rattled by early setbacks, the Indian defence and midfield began ball rotation, but the forwards Prabhjot Singh, Gurvinder Chandi and Rajpal Singh were unable to penetrate past goalkeeper Francisco Cortes.