Patience and staying calm mattered most Harmanpreet after 4-1 win over Japan

Jalandhar, Oct 30 (PTI) Indian men's hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh on Friday said patience and staying calm and composed were key to his team's 4-1 win over Japan in its third match of the Asian Champions Trophy here.

    Five-time champions and Asian Games gold medallists India were made to toil hard by Japan before the hosts unleashed a ruthless performance in the fourth and final quarter to register the win.

    "I think we always talk about this, that till the last whistle, we will stick to our plan. We will not run behind the ball," Harmanpreet said after the match.

    "I think there were a lot of circle entries, but of course, we didn't get a lot of PCs. But that's the thing, in such a good game, how much patience you have, how much you control your mind, and how cool-minded you are, I think that's more important.

    "And like we performed in the last half, we knew we would get goals because we were maintaining possession well. And definitely, we got a good outcome from our circle entries. So, very happy about that."

    After taking the lead in the 11th minute through Abhishek, India conceded a goal from a penalty stroke four minutes later as both teams were locked at 1-1 at halftime.

    But the hosts looked a completely different side in the fourth and final quarter and put pressure on the Japanese defence with constant raids, resulting in three more goals.

    "I won't say that it didn't go well (first three quarters). Definitely, if we didn't get the goal, it doesn't mean that we didn't do well. But, collectively, there were some areas where we were a little silly. I think in the last quarter, we overcame everything, and definitely, we scored good goals," he said.

    India secured only one penalty corner in the match and Harmanpreet made no mistake with the chance.

    "I think everyone has a different responsibility. That's my responsibility. Sometimes you score, sometimes you don't. But, definitely, like I said, I don't think too much about the goal. Don't overthink that you have to score. I had the same mindset.

    "Whenever we get the opportunity, we will definitely apply what we discussed in the meeting. And we played well," the skipper said.

    India's chief coach Craig Fulton **also felt that patience and calmness** made the difference but said they were not clinical in the final third.

    "I thought Japan played really well in the first half, frustrated us a bit. And we still did enough, but we weren't clinical in the final third. And then the second half change, we did a full press, high, high full press for 20 minutes. And it gave us 2-3 goals, so that was the difference," Fulton said.

    "Yeah, that (patience) was the big thing. I think we were playing well, but we just couldn't put the right passes together. And then you saw when we did, it was good."

    The coach was full of praise for Harmanpreet, terming him a world-class player.

    "He's world-class... He doesn't need 10 chances to score one goal, you know. Give him three, he'll score one. On his day, he'll score two out of three," Fulton said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)