The Indian women's hockey team played out of their skin to earn a brilliant come-from-behind 2-1 win against world No. 7 Spain in their third FIH Pro League encounter at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Saturday.
Spain took the lead through Marta Segu in the 18th minute, but India got right back into the game as Jyoti equalized two minutes later. As the game progressed Spain failed to sustain the pressure and it was India who won the encounter after Neha scored the winning goal eight minutes from time.
From the right side inside the D, Vandana Katariya played the ball underneath the Spain goalkeeper, who came out early, and with defenders all around her, Neha put it into the open net to seal the deal for the home team.
With this win, India have made it three wins in three matches in the Pro League and will hope to continue their winning run on Sunday too.
While India were outplayed for most of the match, they defended well and kept thwarting one attack after the other. Special mention must be made of skipper and goalkeeper Savita, who was brilliant in front of the goal as she kept out multiple shots and kept India in the game. However, their attacking skills lacked the bite as they made only nine circle penetrations and couldn't earn any PC. Including the two goals, they had only four shots on goal.
As for Spain, they were brilliant in the first half and had as many as 19 circle penetrations but were wasteful. And that came to haunt them in the end. With this defeat, they have so far lost all their matches in the Pro League and will hope to turn things around in their second match against India.
Earlier, Spain went forward from the very word go and Laura Barrios won the first PC of the match five minutes into the game, but Spain failed to convert it. They had several chances after that but couldn't convert either of them.
However, they didn't have to wait too long as Segu put Spain ahead three minutes into the second quarter on the counter. India didn't bog down and equalized almost immediately against the run of play. Navneet Kaur dribbled past the Spanish defenders inside the D and played it to Jyoti who made no mistake of deflecting the ball into the open goal.
As the quarter progressed, Spain kept up the pressure and won themselves their second PC but once again failed to convert it. Savita also did well to deny them once while Lucia Jimenez hit the near post with a powerful shot from the right.
However, as the second half began Spain slowly lost the spark and it was India who began the fightback.
