FIH Pro League: With defeat to Great Britain, Craig Fulton’s side take two steps forward and one step back

A 5-4 win against Argentina in Antwerp. A 3-0 win against Germany in London. A 1-3 defeat against Great Britain. Two wins and one defeat over their last three matches for the Indian men’s hockey team. Two steps forward and one step back on their Road to Paris.

India’s defeat against GB on Sunday would be frustrating for Craig Fulton for a few reasons. The first of those would be how they were off the pace to start proceedings at the Lee Valley stadium, but the most lasting would be lack of consistency between matches, and even within a match across quarters.

In essence, the 1-3 defeat against GB was the complete antithesis to India’s 3-0 win against Germany on Saturday. Against GB, India had 8 Penalty Corners and had a 0% conversion rate, while against Germany they won a solitary PC and had a 100% success rate as Harmanpreet Singh scored. Against GB, India struggled to match the intensity of the hosts and didn’t absorb the pressure well while against Germany they withstood serious spells of pressure and defended superbly even when pushed deep. Against GB, India’s forwards apart from Abhishek, were largely ineffective while against Germany, they probably had their best collective game.

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In what was a fast start to the match from both sides, Nicholas Bandurak struck in the second minute, seconds after India had a circle entry of their own. GB’s pace of counterattack left India playing catch up and it got worse when they conceded another 10 minutes later. This time a quick one-touch passing move sliced India open and Bandurak’s powerful shot was too good for PR Sreejesh.

Fighting back from 0-2 was never going to be easy. “We didn’t start too well, they had a good spell of pressure. We have created some half chances, but haven’t taken them yet. It’s tight. This game will be decided by the next goal, hopefully we can get it,” said Fulton at half time. He’d get one of those wishes, as Abhishek – who had a stormer of a second half – scored a stunning reverse hit from the edge of the circle past an otherwise brilliant James Mazarelo.

India had a good third quarter but couldn’t convert the half-chances they were creating, particularly from PCs. Jugraj Singh, who has a mean drag flick in terms of sheer power, has consistently struggled for accuracy and it happened again as he hit a couple of his attempts well wide. And when they’d have liked to put pressure on GB by starting the fourth quarter strongly, it was actually Will Calnan who struck the decisive blow in just two minutes into the final 15.

India huffed and puffed for the rest of the match. Abhishek was unlucky not to have been awarded a penalty stroke for a late tackle on him, Amit Rohidas hit the post from a PC rebound, a couple of other counterattacks fell flat in the final third… and the momentum India had built over the last matches fizzled out with an avoidable defeat.

It didn’t help that India had to play back-to-back high intensity matches, as Harmanpreet said in the post-match interview, but that’s the nature of this tournament. Player-of-the-match Jacob Draper actually said something that should cause at least mild alarm for Indian hockey fans. “I think it was just the intensity, when we set up,” he suggested, when asked what was the point of difference. “I think the Indians did really well in keeping up with us for a half but as the game went on they started to tire and that’s where our training paid off and we put them to the swords, essentially.”

Given India have to play Argentina and Ireland first, and then Belgium and Australia on consecutive days at the Paris Olympics, it is an area that Fulton’s side must address. Physical fitness is a controllable factor, and was a crucial detail in India’s Tokyo bronze. It suddenly can’t become an excuse.

“It’s not easy to play back-to-back with different teams. We created so many chances today for both PCs and field goals, we needed to convert them, but couldn’t do that today. We need to learn from the mistakes in this match. We need to be calm and smart inside the circle, especially with short corners. We got so many PCs and didn’t score a goal,” Harmanpreet reflected after the match.

Fulton had told The Indian Express recently that he believes India have it in them to win gold in Paris but realistically, their level isn’t there yet. It is a quest for that consistency now.

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