Last Updated:
Craig Fulton praised the ‘fighting spirit and sharpness’ of the Indian men’s hockey team against Germany.
Indian men’s hockey team coach Craig Fulton (PTI)
India chief coach Craig Fulton on Thursday credited the team’s fighting spirit and sharpness of the players on the pitch for the dominant 5-3 win over world champions and Olympics silver medallist Germany in the second and final hockey Test.
India, however, lost the series via shoot-out (1-3 scoreline) after the two sides were tied 1-1 in the two-match contest. Germany had won the first Test 2-1 on Wednesday.
“We are playing well, we just had to put it together and today we did that. That was really good. It’s a good team. It’s just that what we couldn’t do yesterday we did today. Sometime when you want it to happen but it doesn’t,” Fulton said after the match.
“We played well yesterday but weren’t that sharp but today we improved and were full of energy. We scored some really good goals and the younger players contributed so that was also heartening.”
India, however, were trailing by a goal at half-time but came back roaring after the change of ends and pumped in four goals in the fourth quarter.
“We really had good phases today. We were sharp on the pitch. At half time I told the boys to relax and just be calm. We will get our chances,” Fulton said.
He said the series was a good exposure for young and new players.
“(Mohammed) Raheel did well, Aditya (Arjun Lalage) did very well, Vishnu (Vishnukant) did well. As I said we need to give these players opportunities,” he said.
“The series was all about giving new players an opportunity, that was our goal and it was really good.
“It’s a good opportunity to play them. We are using the platform to use younger players, different players.”
The coach lauded skipper Harmanpreet Singh, who scored a brace, along with Sukhjeet, on Thursday.
“Really good PC conversions by Harman. We just need to get our set pieces right the we will start the momentum,” said Fulton.
Harmanpreet said the two matches offered plenty of scope to experiment things, like trying out new players and variations in penalty corners.
“The matches provided us good inputs. We took these matches to try out new things and players and effort was successful,” he said.
“It gave us good inputs about some youngsters and few players who made their comebacks.”
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)
