India Level Series with Kookaburras
Despite Matt Gohdes’ goal on the stroke of half time, the Kookaburras went down 2-1 to a resurgent India in the second of their four match series in Perth on Wednesday night.
Having found themselves ahead at the break after Gohdes’ persistence paid off at close range, Australia quickly found themselves behind as the visitors regrouped and emerged for the second half with a clear determination. It didn’t take long for it to pay dividends as Ramandeep Singh latched onto Sandeep Singh’s long pass four minutes after the restart, breaching Tyler Lovell’s goal with the aid of a slight deflection. And just 60 seconds later Sunil Sowmarpet unleashed the goal of the series so far, collecting another long pass and lashing it home into the far top corner to put the Asian Games champions ahead.
Glenn Simpson had the best opportunities to level the match in the second half but was twice denied by Harjot Singh in the Indian goal; the first from a snap shot at the top of the circle, the second a low diving save at a penalty corner.
Coach Graham Reid once again gave youth its chance as the Kookaburras prepare for next month’s Champions Trophy with two more debutants in the green and gold, taking the series tally to five. When Tom Craig finally stepped out on Wednesday it was with as much relief as excitement and pride following a 48 hour scramble to secure an Australia passport in time to play. The Sydney-born 19 year old held a New Zealand passport through his parents but hadn’t ever applied for an Australian one, until he found himself falling foul of international hockey regulations.
And when goalkeeper Leon Hayward was introduced at the start of the second quarter he and younger brother Jeremy made their own bit of history, becoming the 19th brothers to represent Australia.
Afterwards, Kookaburras coach Graham Reid admitted his side hadn’t done enough. He said, “It’s hard to win when you don’t string passes together. That was one of the things we talked about – moving the ball quickly and passing. I don’t think we did that very well. We didn’t execute our skills well enough.
“India came out to play. They had been beaten 4-0 and we knew that they would come out and it would be a much more improved team and it was.
“We’ve got a good series happening and these young guys will learn a lot from it. It’s a very young group but that’s good. They’re learning what international hockey is about.”
The result – the Kookaburras’ first competitive defeat since losing to England at the World League Finals in January – sets up this weekend’s two remaining fixtures perfectly with the sides set to clash again in a double header on Saturday and Sunday.
Debutant Tom Craig admitted, “It’s a step up. That’s my first blood and it was end-to-end stuff just trying to keep up with the Indians. In the end it didn’t quite go our way but onwards to Saturday.
“You’re always going to be a little bit off the pace but I’m just glad for the opportunity. Hopefully, come Saturday some of the screws might be a little bit tighter and, hopefully, we can go on from there.”
Explaining his passport panic, he said, “It’s been a bit frantic, a bit hectic. Not dissimilar to the third quarter of that match. I travel on a New Zealand passport and the [Australian] birth certificate isn’t enough proof of citizenship so I’ve been scrambling around trying to get a passport. I got that today and [stepped] out on the pitch. The folks are Kiwis so blame them, I guess. It happens.”
WAIS athletes Kiel Brown, Tyler Lovell, Aran Zalewski and Craig Boyne all represented Australia through the match.
The third match in the series takes place on Saturday at 7pm AWST (10pm AEDT). The match will be shown live on the Hockey Australia YouTube channel.
-HockeyAus
