Weak End

They were without their key defender and penalty corner expert,Richard Mantell,but found a more than worthy replacement in Richard Smith for the first task and the ever reliable Ben Hawes and Ashley Jackson for the second. Jackson had been the man to watch out for,having been the key playmaker for England through this tournament,and he shouldered the additional responsibility,including that of falling back to defend,beautifully. With captain Barry Middleton and Glenn Kirkham in the middle,Jackson kept the supply lines upfront always open.

Upfront,they had James Tindall. The tall striker from Surbiton has been Englands main scorer so far,and he reaffirmed that reputation. Not only did he score Englands second goal,he was also instrumental in earning the penalty corner that gave them the first and set up Nick Catlin for the third.

For the hosts,this would perhaps rank with the game against Spain in terms of lost chances. Shivendra Singh was back,but the quickest player in the Indian ranks was often left all alone,searching for someone to pass the ball to. One particular moment stands out in the 25th minute,snatching the ball from an English defender,Shivendra made a run for it all the way from the half-line,beating a couple of opponents on the way,only to find himself all alone inside the D,waiting for his team mates to catch up. By then,he was surrounded by three defenders and the goalkeeper,and decided to take a shot himself and missed by a whisker.

It was not an isolated case. India tried to win penalty corners,but managed only two and failed in both. Gurbaj Singh,Sardar Singh and Vikram Pillay kept putting the ball inside the circle till the very last minute from every possible angle,and Rajpal Singh,Sarwanjit Singh,Gurwinder Chandi and Prabhjot Singh kept pushing it out or wide,the last such blooper coming with 30 seconds left on the clock. The Indian defence put up a much better show,but they were always going to find it tough in the face of a determined attack and lack of support upfront.

There was a flurry of action in the middle of the second half between the 15th and 25th minutes when India pumped in two quick goals by Rajpal and Chandi,who,ironically,missed the maximum chances. But it was never going to be enough.

England play a zonal game,and they did that much better than the hosts. They also were more accurate in their passing and quicker on the counters,regrouping much faster than India. The only reason they failed to score more than three goals was Adrian DSouza under the bar,who brought off some impressive saves.

England will be preparing for their semi-final clash now while India will possibly play for the 7th spot,since they cannot overtake Spain for the third spot in the league unless the Spaniards lose their last match and India pump in at least a dozen goals against South Africa. On current form,that looks unlikely.