India’s veteran goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu reckons they can be proud of their first-half performance against Australia in their opening game of the AFC Asian Cup on Saturday. The Blue Tigers were able to keep Socceroos in check in the first half’s play as both teams went back to the tunnel without any goal.

However, Sandhu feels the Indian team lost their aggression in the second half, which led to their downfall. Jackson Irvine scored in the 50th minute whereas Jordan Bos found the back of the net in the 73rd minute.

Australia dominated the possession with 71% whereas they took a total of 28 shots on goal.

Sandhu finished the match with four saves and one clearance.

“The first half was something that we should be very proud of. But it’s a game of small margins and if you give an inch to superior teams like this, they score,” stated Sandhu speaking to the ISL Media.

Reflecting back on his mistake, he added, “I should have done better as well. But again, we should be learning from this experience as much as we can and rub it off and move on to the next two games.”

Speaking on the lessons, Sandhu said as a team they shouldn’t stop being aggressive on the pitch to get the right results.

“As a team, we should make sure that we do not stop being aggressive. In the second half, we were a little bit more passive in terms of our defensive approach. Maybe (we should have) still been aggressive in that scenario if the game is still on. And, just take our chances, and be more clinical. I think the first half had 2-3 chances for us, maybe use that for us and take the game from there,” he concluded.

India will next take on Uzbekistan at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Qatar on Thursday in their second match of the tournament.