After India suffered a 1-2 loss at the hands of New Zealand in their second match of the Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament, coach Paul van Ass said that despite being the better side on turf,results continued to elude his side. After a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Korea on Sunday, India conceded a late goal to succumb to their first loss and hand New Zealand their second consecutive win in the six-nation tournament.
Despite having the better share of possession and ball control, India paid the price for some sloppy defending as New Zealand scored through skipper Simon Child (38th minute) and Andy Hayward’s (55th) late penalty corner conversion to give Paul his first taste of defeat. “I think we played good match, especially in the third and at the start of the fourth quarter. I think we dominated the better part of the game but unfortunately in the last six minutes, we conceded a corner and that is more with the head (mental part),” the Dutchman said.
“It is unfortunate but there is nothing wrong with the way we played hockey today. The level of play was very good we didn’t get the result which we should have got. Van Ass said there was nothing new in New Zealand’s game and India need to reduce silly errors. “It is not that they (New Zealand) surprised me by tactics. They did what they always do, played some long balls and they have good penalty corner specialist (Hayward). I feel our mistakes should reduce,” he said.