Thaindian News

By Anand Philar
New Delhi, Oct 12 (IANS) India deserved to be in the final of the men’s hockey competition at the Commonwealth Games if only because they played better than England and the matter should end there, said coach Jose Brasa soon after the home side’s thrilling 8-7 victory in the tie-breaker here Tuesday.

Brasa’s response was to the England team’s complaint that India’s third goal was illegal and so also Sandeep Singh’s attempt during the tie-breaker.

Both England coach Jason Lee and skipper Barry Middleton questioned several umpiring decisions, and lamented the absence of video referrals.

“It’s a very painful way to go out. We had put in a lot of hard work and focused on winning the gold medal here. The crowd and its support of Indian team did not really bother us, though the atmosphere was fantastic. We did struggle in the last 10 to 15 minutes,” said Middleton.

In his response to England’s observations, Brasa said: “If you look at all the three England goals, then I would say they were all illegal. So, we can also question them. As for the penalty stroke, he (Sandeep) neither dragged the ball nor were his feet off the ground. It was a legal attempt.

“But more important was that we played better than England and deserved to be in the final even before we went into the tie-breaker. I must say that the England goalkeeper (James Fair) made some brilliant saves in the last 15 minutes and also the extra-time. You must give credit to him,” he said.

Skipper Rajpal Singh, speaking of the tactics India employed when trailing 1-3, said: “We thought attack was the best way to go about. Against Australia, we were too defensive and did not want to repeat that mistake. England were lucky in the last 10-15 minutes. We had some chances then, but could not convert them.”