India 'A' lose bronze-medal match in men's AHL

Perth: India 'A' finished their men's Australian Hockey League (AHL) campaign in the fourth place after losing to New South Wales 2-3 in the bronze-medal play-off here on Sunday.

India scored two early goals through Simranjeet Singh (third minute) and Affan Yousuf (ninth) which were eclipsed by NSW through Tom Craig (39th), Simon Orchard (55th) and Lachlan Sharp (56th).

India started the match strongly as they pulled off a wonderful team move which saw Simranjeet scoring his first goal of AHL 2017 in the third minute. India had six attempts at the NSW goal within the first quarter and were constantly putting their defence under pressure.

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Affan scored his third goal of this year's AHL when he beautifully finished a field goal in the ninth minute to extend India's lead to 2-0 with three quarters remaining.

The second quarter saw a similar story as India dominated possession but it was the NSW side who had more circle entries and shots at goal, but were kept out by the Indian defence.

In the third quarter, NSW stepped up their efforts to get a goal back in which they were successful as Australian international Craig scored a field goal in the 39th minute.

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NSW continued their rhythm into the fourth quarter as they tried to get past the Indian defence, which did well to stop the Australians from scoring until NSW scored two goals in two minutes to make a comeback.

Orchard scored a field goal in the 55th minute to level the scores at 2-2, and in the 56th minute, it was Sharp who scored the winner for his team.

IANS