India go down to Spain for fifth loss on trot

The Indian men’s hockey team’s poor show continued even in Hobart as they lost against Spain in their first game Down Under on Saturday. Playing with a much-changed squad, Craig Fulton’s men went down 0-2 and it is their fifth consecutive loss of the Pro League this season.For Spain, Ignacio Abajo and Ignacio Cobos scored the two goals as the Indian team struggled throughout the 60 minutes. They will now take on Australia on Sunday.Speaking at half-time to the broadcaster, Fulton had said, “We need to be better at the ball because their counterattacks are coming from our mistakes.”But those woes were the story of the entire game and Spain took full advantage of it by dominating them to the fullest. They had seven PCs compared to India’s one — that Amandeep Lakra couldn’t convert. As for circle entries, Spain had 23 to India’s nine.Despite the overall poor showing, they had a few chances but even those were not converted. What was most disappointing to watch though was the lack of cohesion among the players. And at times they were defending so deep that they were forced to give away the ball.The goalkeepers, especially Mohith HS, however, had a good game and made some excellent saves. Hardik Singh, leading the side in place of regular captain Harmanpreet Singh, also made some good runs but the result remained zero.With Fulton likely to continue with his chop and change tactic, only time will tell whether India will be able to stop their losing run.Earlier, Spain took the lead in the sixth minute itself when captain Alejandro Alonso played a long through pass down the ground from the halfway line. At the top of the D, Borja Lacalle got a touch to it before Abajo deflected it past goalkeeper Suraj Karkera into the net.The India players, who were once again slow to get off their blocks, something that Fulton had spoken of earlier, had no clue and were left shellshocked.Within minutes, Spain scored another but to India’s good fortune it was ruled out. Despite that Spain continued to press and won two back-to-back PCs midway in the second quarter, which India defended well.Spain, however, doubled their lead early in the third quarter when Pol Cabré-Verdiell made a run down the right flank through a maze of defenders and into the D. There he played the ball to Cobos, who made no mistake of slotting it past Karkera.Spain won three more PCs which they couldn’t convert. But it proved sufficient to bag their first win of the tournament after five consecutive losses.