Stick-checked

A yellow card to Dhanraj Pillay for a minor infringment reduced India to 10 men for the last five minutes and although the side tried hard to keep the Aussies at bay they failed in their effort.

Jamie Dwyer, tournament8217;s highest scorer with six goals, got a long pass from a counter move and tapped the ball cleverly to Brennan who put the ball in past a diving Indian goalkeeper Adrian D8217;Souza much to the dismay of the Indians.

No one would have thought of the match coming to an end in such a fashion after India started on a promising note. Deepak Thakur 6th, Gagan Ajit Singh 51st, Arjun Halappa 52nd scored for the Indians while Troy Elder 11th, Jamie Dwyer 37th, Michael McCann 50th and Brennan sounded the board for the Australians.

A win in the match would have helped India take a giant step towards ensuring a place in the semi-final and the way the Asian powerhouse started the game, it seemed they were heading in the right direction.

Thakur8217;s goal in the sixth minute provided the perfect platform for the side to go for the kill.

But that was not to be as Australia, bronze medallists in the Sydney Games, came back strongly equalising in the 11th minute and soon after the complexion of the game changed with the Australians dictating terms with an authoritative display.

Australia continued in the same vein soon after resumption putting in a lot of pressure on their opposition to commit mistakes. Their ploy reaped rich dividends as the Indians made several errors leaving open spaces inside the circle which the Australians exploited well.

A poor trapping by Harpal Singh near the Indian 25-yard gave the Aussies the opportunity they were looking for and a lurking Dwyer put the loose ball inside the net to give his side the lead.

When McCann and Dwyer combined well to make the score 3-1 in favour of Australia 13 minutes later, it seemed it8217;s going to be a cakewalk for the side.

But Gagan Ajit scored an opportunist goal from a difficult angle and soon after Arjun Halappa too found the net to sent the Australians go on the backfoot.

The resurgent Indians riding on a good move by Dhanraj came close to scoring in the very next minute, but Gagan Ajit8217;s poor trapping inside the circle denied India the lead.