Gotta say fair play to India on their valiant defensive performance that restricted most of the Kookaburras’ shots on target while being able to get away with the 1-0 lead for a bit off their 2nd penalty corner shot by Jugraj Singh before they were equalised 1-1 after quiet 2/3rds play – including a mighty effort from the goalkeeper who saved quite a lot and never backed down by P.R Sreejesh. But the win still belongs to the Kookaburras at home as they have clinched the five-match series 3-0 with two games to spare courtesy of a Jeremy Hayward double strike performance. The two goals he got away are one was a straight one-on-one penalty stroke after Amit Rhoidas couldn’t clear Joey Rintala out of the way at India’s own end & another was a penalty corner after his side regained some attacking momentum in the final third not long after India’s goal.
Now that the Kookaburras have secured the Men’s Perth Cup, they would need to be a bit better at their executions where a lot of shots on target were hit and misses or else the missed opportunities could go the opposition’s way like it was yesterday and also during the first-half of Game 2. This would be the big difference if they wish to dominate the rest of the FIH Pro League season as well as winning gold at the Paris Olympics in France later this year. And as for India, their defense is really strong and rock solid that frustrated most of the Kookburras failed conversions including penalty corners. They just need to make the most of their attack a bit more and we could see a really good contest all along with India still right in contention.
Game 4 coming up later tomorrow at the Perth Hockey Stadium before the series wraps up for Game 5 on Saturday. Will the Kookaburras sort out their attacking conversions like it was in Game 1 with a excellent start to the series 5-1 to try safeguard their lead for the win or can India get the job done more than just penalty corners on top of their rock solid defense?
