Pakistan edge past Ireland, 2-1 in UCD Four-Nation Cup: Hockey Recap
After a fast-paced and full of thrill game, the final contest of the UCD Four-Nations Tournament between Pakistan and Ireland concluded with the former one coming out victorious by a single goal, 2-1. The nail-biting contest between the two high-flying squads
was held at the University College Dublin (UCD) in Ireland, on June 24.
It is vital to mention here that the Greenshirts had to win the last pool match in order to book a berth in the finals. The Greenshirts lost the first game in the hands of France. They improved their game and won the next game against China. The home side
of Ireland won all the first two games against China and France.
Paul Revington, the coach of the Ireland, while speaking to the media said that they were quite disappointed with the performance against Pakistan.
He stated, “We were disappointed to concede two goals that we believe we should be controlling and will need to improve on this area before tomorrow. The team are excited to be playing Pakistan again tomorrow in the Final and are confident that our improvements
will lead to a more competitive performance.”
It was another chilly day when the men’s field hockey teams of Pakistan and Ireland entered the field in a quite aggressive way. The Irish team was in mind to continue its winning-streak, while the Pakistan wanted to make an entry into the title-clash competition.
The strikers from Pakistan adopted offensive policies at the start of the game and made back-to-back penetrations into the defensive circle of Ireland. The game in the first 35 minutes completely belonged to Pakistan. Though the strikers of Ireland could
not create serious threats for the Greenshirts, the defensemen displayed impressive performance and blocked numerous shots of Ireland's front-liners.
The impasse could not continue for long and Pakistani Waseem Ahmed scored the first goal from the field effort. In the 24th minute of the game, he managed to dribble a couple of defenders and tapped the shot into the Irish goal and giving their
custodian no chance to block the hit.
In a matter of four minutes, the Greenshirts earned a short-corner and tested Sohail Abbas. He deflected the ball impressively and sent it into the goal to double the tally. The first half of play concluded with Greenshirts sitting on top by 2-0.
The Irish attack came alive in the second half, but could only score only one. Michael Watt scored a goal from the field through a field effort in the 40th minute and reduced the lead down to a single goal. But it was the only offence from them
and they lost the game at 2-1.
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