One-man army: Mandeep scores two late goals as India come from behind to beat New Zealand

Bhubaneswar, October 28

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Mandeep Singh struck two field goals in the final quarter as India began their FIH Pro League campaign with a 4-3 win over New Zealand here today. Mandeep scored in the 51st and 56th minutes after India were down 2-3 at the end of the third quarter. Mandeep Mor (13th) and captain Harmanpreet Singh (41st) were the other scorers for world No. 5 India. World No. 9 New Zealand scored through Sam Lane (22nd and 35th) and Jake Smith (34th).

New Zealand showed more attacking intent in the early exchanges. India goalkeeper PR Sreejesh was called into action early in the match as he saved a deflection. It was India, however, who got the first penalty corner of the match but failed to convert. India took the lead from their first chance of the match. Nilakanta Sharma found Mor free on the right with an accurate pass before the latter fired past New Zealand goalkeeper Dominic Dixon.

India were in the ascendency and threatened to double the lead in the early period of the second quarter. But it was the Black Sticks who equalised seven minutes into the quarter from their first penalty corner. The shot from Sam Lane was blocked in front of goal by Surender Kumar. The visiting team went for a review and replays showed that the ball came off Surender’s foot. Lane found the bottom corner of the Indian goal from the spot.

Soon after, New Zealand got another penalty corner but this time Krishan Pathak blocked the ball but it fell to Simon Child whose attempt went wide. Just before the halftime, India came close to taking the lead but Sukhjeet Singh’s shot from a narrow angle was saved by Dixon.

The third quarter was an exciting contest and New Zealand surged ahead with two quick goals in the 34th and 35th minutes.

India pulled one back in the 41st minute when Harmanpreet converted a penalty stroke earned by Mandeep.

India were down to 10 men towards the end of third quarter after Sumit was shown a 10-minute yellow card. India played the first seven minutes of the final quarter with 10 men. New Zealand pressed hard and earned a couple of penalty corners but India survived. Once full-strength, India pounced on the Kiwis to scored two goals. Mandeep first deflected in a cross from Mor to restore parity and then struck a powerful shot into the bottom corner to seal the issue.

“The boys did an excellent job as we were playing after a long gap,” Harmanpreet said. “Coming back from behind to win is always a great feeling. We made some mistakes, and we will work on those before our next match against Spain,” he added.

India will play Spain on Sunday.