Tweet
Saumojyoti S Choudhury New Delhi, Oct 12 (PTI) Last edition''s silver medallist Pakistan squandered a two goal lead to go down 2-3 in extra time to South Africa in a men''s hockey classification match and end their Commonwealth Games campaign on a disappointing note, finishing sixth here today. The Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium continued to haunt the Pakistanis as even after star Rehan Butt (28th, 58th minute) gave them a 2-0 lead, the once upon time Asian giants conceded three penalty corner goals to hand South Africa the fifth spot.
Incidentally, it is the same ground where Pakistan registered their worst-ever World Cup performance, finishing 12th -- the last position in the game''s showpiece event, earlier this year. For South Africa Justin Reid-Ross (55th, 75th) turned out to be the star performer converting two short corners, including the golden goal, while Gareth Carr (12th) sounded the board from another set piece.
The Pakistanis were also undone by a 58th minute red card shown to Muhammad Irfan for bringing down South African striker Marvin Harper with a hit on his neck from the back. Contrary to the result, it was Pakistan who started the match on a positive note with Butt giving them the lead in the 28th minute through a field goal.
The veteran Pakistani striker doubled the lead in the 53rd minute with a solo effort after snatching the ball from a South African defender. However, South Africa did not lose hope and pressed hard for goals and two minutes later their efforts bore fruits as Reid-Ross'' grounded flick, from a short corner, found the back of the Pakistani net.
But then came in Irfan''s unnecessary foul which changed the complexion of the match completely within a span of 10 minutes. Irfan''s tackle not only reduced Pakistan to 10-men but also gave South Africa another penalty corner from which Carr scored the equaliser with a fierce dragflick to the top left of the Pakistani goal, which custodian Imran Shah had no answer.
Thereafter, Pakistan tried hard for the winner and in the process earned two penalty corners in the dying stages of the match but failed to utilise the chances which took the match into extra time. In additional time, South Africa came out a rejuvenated side and scored the golden goal in the 75th minute, yet again from a penalty corner through a brilliant Reid-Ross.
Incidentally, the match also witnessed a heated exchange between Pakistan''s two most senior players Butt and Shakeel Abbasi. The incident occurred in the later stages of the match when Abbasi did not give a pass to Butt, who was in a better position, inside the South African circle which infuriated the striker.
Abbasi''s selfish act did not go down well with Butt who yelled at his teammate and both were seen exchanging some heated words. However, at the post-match press conference Pakistan captain Zeeshan Ashraf denied any such incident and said all was fine within the team.
When asked about the incident, Ashraf said, "What are you talking about? No such thing has happened. "Yes, small arguments do happen in high intensity matches like this but there is nothing serious.
" Both Pakistan captain and coach Mishel van den Heuvel admitted that the red card played a big role in their defeat today but said as a whole the team displayed good hockey. "The team played well but we missed a few chances.
Even after the red card we got chances but could not score. Today was bad for us," Zeeshan said.
Asked whether the red card was justified, he said, "Only the third umpire can tell that but our player said he did not commie any mistake." His views were seconded by coach Heuvel who said, "We played well for 50 minutes but we need to take our chances.
Of course, the red card was a big thing and it had an influence on the result of the match." PTI SSC CM.
Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds
