Perth: The Indian men's hockey team performed much better than its previous match but still lost 2-4 to Australia in the second Test of the five-match series here on Sunday.
After the 1-5 defeat on Saturday, the Indians managed to play evenly against their stronger opponents in the first and second quarters of the match.
In fact, India were leading 2-1 at half-time, but some poor defending in the third quarter cost them dearly as the hosts scored three goals to register their second consecutive win.
Jeremy Hayward (6th and 34th) converted two penalty corners, while Jaco Anderson (42nd) and Nathan Ephraims (45th) scored for Australia from field efforts.
Both India's goals were scored by Jugraj Singh (9th) and captain Harmanpreet Singh (30th) on penalty corners.
The Indians started the game on the front foot with vice-captain Hardik Singh heavily involved in the midfield.But Australia took the lead in the sixth minute with their first penalty corner through Hayward, who stunned the board with a powerful low drag-flick to the right past Indian goalkeeper Krishna Bahadur Pathak, who found the ball under the bar in place of veteran PR. The match had started. Sreejesh.
The Kookaburras looked dangerous after taking the lead as they soon earned back-to-back penalty corners but the Indian defense held firm.
The Indians gradually took hold of the match and started putting pressure on the Australian defence, earning three consecutive penalty corners in the process.
While the first two penalty corners went in vain, Jugraj equalized for the visitors in the ninth minute with a powerful flick to the left top corner of the Australian goal.
The goal seemed to have given the Indians a lot of confidence as Abhishek came very close to doubling the visitors' lead in the 12th minute.
An unmarked Abhishek got a great ball inside the Australian 'D' which he had to beat to the keeper, but it hit the cross bar.A minute before the first quarter, Australia got another penalty corner, but the push was not correct.
In the second quarter, the Indian defense faced heavy pressure from the Kookaburras, but did not falter.
Just 41 seconds before half-time, India were awarded a penalty corner and captain Harmanpreet made no mistake in scoring the 180th goal of her career to give her team a 2-1 lead.
After falling behind by one goal, the Australian team performed strongly after the change in the end and scored three goals to show their dominance over India.
Four minutes into the third quarter, Australia were awarded a penalty corner and Hayward scored his second goal of the match to level the score.
It was another lesson for the Indians, who played catch-up hockey and failed to match the Australians for the second consecutive day.It was Australia's sustained pressure that broke the Indian defense on more than one occasion.
Anderson got his name on the scoresheet in the 42nd minute, deflecting in from Matt Dawson and Jack Welch to literally catch India custodian Pathak off guard.
The Indians earned two more penalty corners a few minutes later but Harmanpreet failed to breach the Australian defence.
With just seconds left in the third quarter, Ephraims found himself in the right place at the right time and slapped in a quick turnover to make it 4-2 after getting past Pathak off an Indian deflection.
The fourth quarter saw a tough competition from both sides, with the Indians attacking with all their might in search of goals, while the Australians were trying their best to defend.
Although the Indians tried hard they failed to create any real scoring chances due to the home team's numerical defence.The third Test match of the series, titled Perth International Festival O Hockey, will be played here on April 10.
The series is a part of preparations for this year's Paris Olympics for both sides.
After the 1-5 defeat on Saturday, the Indians managed to play evenly against their stronger opponents in the first and second quarters of the match.
In fact, India were leading 2-1 at half-time, but some poor defending in the third quarter cost them dearly as the hosts scored three goals to register their second consecutive win.
Jeremy Hayward (6th and 34th) converted two penalty corners, while Jaco Anderson (42nd) and Nathan Ephraims (45th) scored for Australia from field efforts.
Both India's goals were scored by Jugraj Singh (9th) and captain Harmanpreet Singh (30th) on penalty corners.
The Indians started the game on the front foot with vice-captain Hardik Singh heavily involved in the midfield.But Australia took the lead in the sixth minute with their first penalty corner through Hayward, who stunned the board with a powerful low drag-flick to the right past Indian goalkeeper Krishna Bahadur Pathak, who found the ball under the bar in place of veteran PR. The match had started. Sreejesh.
The Kookaburras looked dangerous after taking the lead as they soon earned back-to-back penalty corners but the Indian defense held firm.
The Indians gradually took hold of the match and started putting pressure on the Australian defence, earning three consecutive penalty corners in the process.
While the first two penalty corners went in vain, Jugraj equalized for the visitors in the ninth minute with a powerful flick to the left top corner of the Australian goal.
The goal seemed to have given the Indians a lot of confidence as Abhishek came very close to doubling the visitors' lead in the 12th minute.
An unmarked Abhishek got a great ball inside the Australian 'D' which he had to beat to the keeper, but it hit the cross bar.A minute before the first quarter, Australia got another penalty corner, but the push was not correct.
In the second quarter, the Indian defense faced heavy pressure from the Kookaburras, but did not falter.
Just 41 seconds before half-time, India were awarded a penalty corner and captain Harmanpreet made no mistake in scoring the 180th goal of her career to give her team a 2-1 lead.
After falling behind by one goal, the Australian team performed strongly after the change in the end and scored three goals to show their dominance over India.
Four minutes into the third quarter, Australia were awarded a penalty corner and Hayward scored his second goal of the match to level the score.
It was another lesson for the Indians, who played catch-up hockey and failed to match the Australians for the second consecutive day.It was Australia's sustained pressure that broke the Indian defense on more than one occasion.
Anderson got his name on the scoresheet in the 42nd minute, deflecting in from Matt Dawson and Jack Welch to literally catch India custodian Pathak off guard.
The Indians earned two more penalty corners a few minutes later but Harmanpreet failed to breach the Australian defence.
With just seconds left in the third quarter, Ephraims found himself in the right place at the right time and slapped in a quick turnover to make it 4-2 after getting past Pathak off an Indian deflection.
The fourth quarter saw a tough competition from both sides, with the Indians attacking with all their might in search of goals, while the Australians were trying their best to defend.
Although the Indians tried hard they failed to create any real scoring chances due to the home team's numerical defence.The third Test match of the series, titled Perth International Festival O Hockey, will be played here on April 10.
The series is a part of preparations for this year's Paris Olympics for both sides.
