India won 1-0 against Ireland in their final FIH Pro League match here on Friday, courtesy of a last-minute shot from Gurjant Singh, but it was a game the host would hope to remember and learn a lot from about how much work it still needs to do to and forget in terms of the result.
It was a tactically brilliant game between coach Fulton’s current and former wards, one for the textbooks but nothing for the viewers.
The Irish had their plans clear — defend in numbers, don’t bother much with attack unless in with a clear chance, and deny India any shot at goal. They did it admirably almost till the very end. With clean tackling and precise defending, they negated anything India tried to throw at them. It made for boring visuals and fascinating lessons.
