FIH Hockey World Cup 2023: Wales defended well but we could have done with better finishing – Graham Reid

India’s head coach Graham Reid gave credit to Wales for defending well in the last group D match of the ongoing FIH Hockey World Cup at Bhubaneshwar on Thursday but also feels his players could have come up with better finishing.

India had their chances in the first quarter but they failed to find the back of the net. Samsher Singh gave a lead to the home team in the second quarter and it was quickly doubled by Akashdeep Singh.

India had to win by a margin of eight goals against the European country but they were shocked in the third quarter as Gareth Furlong and Jacob Draper found the goals to make it 2-2.

Akashdeep Singh then scored at the start of the fourth quarter and the team’s skipper Harmanpreet Singh finally found the back of the net through a penalty corner when the Wales goalkeeper was not on the pitch.

India had many chances through penalty corners but Harmanpreet could not make the most of them.

“For me, the good part was that the team faced some good fight in certain parts of the game, other parts we still have to cut the gap down. One of the positives to come from this game is that we had to fight to win the game. My experience of the World Cup is that there is no clear road to the gold medal. Every road is different, every team is different. What I do know is that when you fight for a win, when you dig deep into what we had to do tonight, that stands you in good stead. So, that is what I was pleased about. even though we could not get directly into the quarterfinals,” Reid added.

“Of course, Wales put up a very strong defence but we could have done with some better finishing,” the Australian said.

India will face New Zealand in the crossover match on Sunday and the Australian admitted that it is going to be a tough game against the Kiwis.

“Now we have a crossover game against New Zealand and that’s going to be tough. We played them here in the Pro League and our first game against them was very tough, the second game was a bit easier but I am telling you they will come out just like Wales, energized. Looking forward to that match,” said Reid