Follow Scroll.in’s coverage of Indian hockey here.
Series preview - World Cup on the horizon, Harmanpreet Singh-led India return to Pro League action with focus on defence
That’s it for our coverage for tonight. Join us on Friday, November 4, when India plays New Zealand, at 19:10 hrs IST.
Still a long way to go in this season, but Graham Reid is sure to have gotten an understanding of where his team stands, especially with the World Cup approaching in a few months. India started off the match on a positive note, taking charge and creating better chances. Spain settled in and then started to dictate terms towards the end of the first quarter, and then continued that momentum in the second to go up 2-0, through goals from Eduard de Iganacio-Simo and Marc Miralles. India pulled one back immediately through Harmanpreet Singh, and later equalised through a well taken hit by Abhishek.
But the hosts couldn’t hold on, as 45 seconds later, in the 57th minute, Marc Reyne scored the winner.
A big positive for the Indians was the form of Krishan Pathak in the Indian goal. But as Harmanpreet put it, the team will need to start converting the chances they worked so hard to create.
“Overall the match, the boys did a very good job. It’s tough to lose. But we need to work on the PCs and finishing, after creating so many chances.”
India captain Harmanpreet Singh after the match.
Jordi Bonastre of spain is adjudged the player of the match.
End of the match. Spain hold on to the 3-2 lead, giving India their first loss of the season.
Q4: India 2-3 Spain: 95 seconds left of this match and India pulls off their goalkeeper for an outfield player.
Q4: India 2-3 Spain - GOAL FOR SPAIN! Spain back in the lead. Marc Reyne collects on the left side of the shooting circle, goes for a reverse-hit and powers it through the feet of the Indian goalkeeper to put Spain ahead, yet again.
Q4: India 2-2 Spain - GOAL FOR INDIA! It’s Abhishek with the equaliser. Good turn as he controls the ball and gets away from his marker, and aims for that tiny gap between the near post and Adrian Rafi in the Spanish goal.
Q4: India 1-2 Spain - Just under six minutes left of play. A hint of desperation is creeping into the Indian play now.
Q4: India 1-2 Spain - Harmanpreet steps up, but they go for a variation. Harmanpreet absolutely whacks that forward towards Manpreet who is unable to control the deflection.
Q4: India 1-2 Spain - Penalty corner for India at the end of an excellent move. Good cross from Jarmanpreet, lovely diving attempt from Mandeep. A melee ensues and a PC for India.
End of Q3: Spain has had the better share of chances in this third period of play. The scores remain the same though because of the heroics of Krishan Pathak, and that one stellar goal-line save by Jarmanpreet Singh.
Q3: India 1-2 Spain - Harmanpreet Singh goes for it, but Adrian Rafi gets another big left hand to make the save.
Q3: India 1-2 Spain - Last 15 seconds of the third quarter, and Sukhjeet Singh wins a PC for India.
Vinayakk Mohanarangan: Jarmanpreet, wow. From the penalty corner, you often see good saves and rushes... but he got his bat down to middle the ball at speed. That was quite something.
Q3: India 1-2 Spain - Pathak was nowhere close to this one, but Jarmanpreet Singh watched the ball all the way and got a nice clean connection to make the stop and send it out of danger.
Q3: India 1-2 Spain - Referral from Spain, and its given as a penalty corner for the visitors. Commentators confused - they thought it should have been a stroke.
Vinayakk Mohanarangan: India lose their referral, and from the resultant PC, Krishan Pathak is once again impressive, He is having a good start to this Pro League season, was solid against New Zealand as well.
Q3: India 1-2 Spain - Another good save from Pathak. Spain gets to play the advantage but the final shot goes just over the crossbar.
Q3: India 1-2 Spain - Another PC for Spain.
Q3: India 1-2 Spain - Very good save from Krishan Pathak. Stands tall and paws the ball away.
Q3: India 1-2 Spain - Penalty corner for Spain
Q3: India 1-2 Spain - Nilkatanta Sharma with a careless tackle and he’s on the bench for two minutes - green card.
Q3: India 1-2 Spain - End to end stuff here as both teams get good chances, but for some stellar defending at either end.
Q3: India 1-2 Spain - Good attempt by Mandeep Mor this time, but Adrian Rafi gets a good solid hand to paw the ball away.
Q3: India 1-2 Spain - Penalty corner for India
Q3: India 1-2 Spain - Excellent and important double save from Pathak in the India goal.
India coach Graham Reid with during the halftime chat
“Coach Graham what do your side need to improve from the first half?”
Graham Reid: “Only everything”
We’re off in the second half!
End of the first half: Three goals came in the second quarter, all three from penalty corners. Spain struck first barely two minutes into Q2 through Ignacio-Simo, and then the captain Miralles doubled the lead. Harmanpreet then stepped up to powerfully slot home and reduce the deficit, ensuring a promising second half.
Q2: India 1-2 Spain - It’s Harmanpreet again, but this time he hits it straight at the goalkeeper Mario Garin.
Q2: India 1-2 Spain - Just under two minutes left of the second quarter, and India wins another PC.
Q2: India 1-2 Spain - GOAL FOR INDIA! It’s the Indian captain this time. Harmanpreet Singh drives the ball into the far corner of the net. Nothing the goalkeeper could do about that one.
Q2: India 0-2 Spain - Penalty corner for India
Q2: India 0-2 Spain - GOAL FOR SPAIN! It’s the Spanish captain Marc Miralles who makes it 2-0 for Spain with a well taken drag-flick. Sreejesh arguably could have done better since he got a hand to it, but no doubting the power and pace Miralles got on that shot.
Q2: India 0-1 Spain - Spain wins its fourth penalty corner. Just under four minutes left in this quarter.
Q2: India 0-1 Spain - Apart from that chance for Rajkumar Pal, no great chance so far in this second quarter for India. Spain has been the better team in the midfield for the first 10 minutes of this quarter.
Q2: India 0-1 Spain - Ball goes into the Spain goal, but not given. Jugraj slaps the ball in, but the ball is deflected by a Spanish player. No own goals in hockey.
Q2: India 0-1 Spain - Good chance for India goes wide. Mohammed Raheel plays a cross into the unmarked Rajkumar Pal, but his shot at goal is wide.
Q2: India 0-1 Spain - GOAL TO SPAIN! Good strong save by Sreejesh from the penalty corner, but he pushes the ball back into danger. The Spanish players get a hold of the ball and in the resulting melee, Cesar Curiel pushes the ball towards goal and Eduard de Ignacio-Simo gets the final touch to put the visitors ahead
Q2: India 0-0 Spain - Penalty corner for Spain. Bit of a wild tackle from Harmanpreet there.
Q2: India 0-0 Spain - Penalty corner for Spain. Bit of a wild tackle from Harmanpreet there.
Q2: India 0-0 Spain - India changes goalkeepers ahead of the second quarter as the veteran Sreejesh comes on.
End of Q1: India 0-0 Spain - Nothing between the two teams at the end of the first 15 minutes of play. India started the stronger side and Spain had to soak in the pressure in the early exchanges. But, particularly in the last five minutes, the Spanish side came back stronger with a few chances in quick succession.
Q1: India 0-0 Spain - Pathak makes the save, but Spain get another PC. And Pathak makes another good save.
Q1: India 0-0 Spain - Shot for Spain, and Pathak clears. But a penalty corner is awarded.
Q1: India 0-0 Spain - An almost perfect move from Spain, as Alejandro Alonso, Borja Lacalle and Enrique Gonzalez combine. Gonzalez just overruns the final ball a touch and the chance goes away.
Q1: India 0-0 Spain - Strong defence from Spain so far as the Indians have come out flying in attack.
Vinayakk Mohanarangan: Spain is a team in India’s group in the World Cup as well, so there is another layer added to this.
Q1: India 0-0 Spain - First chance for India. Hardik takes a hit from outside, but it takes a bit of a bobble and goes just over the stick of the ever-poaching Mandeep Singh.
AND WE’RE OFF!
Both teams are out for the national anthems. Push-back coming up soon!
Hello and welcome to Scroll.in’s live coverage of India’s match against Spain, in the 2022-23 FIH Men’s Pro League, at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
India came up with a strong start to the season with their 4-3 win over New Zealand on Friday,. Today the Harmanpreet Singh-led team will be looking to make it two from two against a team that had beaten the hosts 5-3 the last time they met – at this same venue in February during the last edition of the event.
New Zealand then suffered consecutive losses as Spain beat them 3-2 in a nail-biting contest on Saturday. Spain’s forwards didn’t waste a single minute from the start of the game as they earned as many as four penalty corners, with Pau Cunill converting one of them.
Match 1 result: India - New Zealand: 4-3
Player of the Match: Mandeep Singh (India)
Match 2 result: New Zealand - Spain: 2-3
Player of the Match: Enrique Gonzalez (Spain)
Screenshots in the blog courtesy: FIH Media / Disney+Hotstar