The Indian men's hockey team closed out the home leg of the FIH Pro League on a high after a 2-1 win over England at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday evening, thanks to Harmanpreet Singh's brace of dragflicks.
At the halfway stage of the season, India are up to third in the Pro League standings, just a point behind leaders England and Belgium, who both have sixteen points.
It was a cagey start to the match, and the first quarter barely saw any goalmouth action, even though the two sides managed a fair few number of circle entries. That final pass or decisive action in the final third just wasn't forthcoming.
The deadlock was broken midway through the second quarter by a powerful Harmanpreet dragflick, which the goalkeeper barely had any time to react to, even though the strike was fairly central. However, India's lead didn't last long, as England were given a penalty stroke in the dying seconds of the half, for a tackle by Harmanpreet in the circle. Connor Williamson stepped up from the spot and sent the ball into the top left corner to give Suraj Karkera no chance in the Indian goal.
After half-time, India pressed forward with Hardik Singh and Abhishek influential in their play. Harmanpreet gave them the lead again with a dragflick even more powerful than the first. He sent the ball into the top right corner, even though there was a man on the post on that side of the goal. That defender only took evasive action, with self-protectino taking priority over stopping the goal, and rightfully so.
India conceded a few penalty corners in the fourth quarter, but Karkera was excellent in goal in making crucial saves to keep the lead intact for Craig Fulton's team. They finish the fortnight in Bhubaneswar with five wins in eight games, an impressive start to their Pro League campaign, particularly as Fulton managed to try out a number of different players and combinations throughout.
You can relive all the action as it happened on our live blog, below: