Winning against England will build the team’s character says Indian Men’s Hockey team’s chief coach Graham Reid

Indian men’s hockey team vice-captain and primary drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh turned clutch last day against England as he scored a brilliant hat-trick to help India win 4-3 against England in the FIH Hockey Pro League at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Sunday, 3 April 2022.

The Indian team defender has breached the milestone of 100 international goals by scoring his brilliant hat trick. It was an important win for the Men in Blue as Harmanpreet Singh spoke after the match sharing that all the goals he has scored for India in his career as memorable to him.

“My aim has always been to score goals for the benefit of the team. Even if I score one or two goals, or don’t score any, I always look to help the team in any which way I can. All my goals are memorable for me and are my favourite ones – because I scored them for India,” the 26-year-old said after steering the Indian team to victory.

India won both the matches against England in the doubleheader. They were tied 3-3 at the end of the regulation time and they managed to defeat England in a penalty shootout. However, the next fixture was an outright win for the Men in Blue. With these couple of wins, they are now at the summit of the FIH Hockey Pro League standings as they have 21 points after 10 games.

Speaking about the opponents Harmanpreet shared how England did not give up till the last minute and made it very tough for them. “England are a very good team, they did not give up till the last minute. But we also performed well to keep our calm,” Harmanpreet Singh said.

“It is also a learning lesson for us that we need to maintain our lead and the pressure in the match so that we can play freely in the final two quarters,” he added.

India head coach Graham Reid also praised the character and morale that his boys showed out on the pitch in their two wins against England. Reid believes that these two matches will give his men the morale and the confidence needed to face future challenges and help them build character.

“We seem to have a habit of not finishing those games when we have control of them. We let the other team get back into it. But I suppose that’s hockey nowadays. In the third quarter, we lost control a bit and we need to look into that,” Reid said.

“The corners went in tonight and we had opportunities to try some variations. It was a really good fight with them and our boys showed a good heart and good spirits. Games like these help in building characters. And it’s always good to come out on top,” the coach added.

Indian men’s hockey team will now face Germany in two matches in the FIH Hockey Pro League scheduled on 14th and 15th April 2022 at the Kalinga Hockey Stadium, Bhubaneswar in Odisha.