Sultan Azlan Shah Cup: Gleghorne’s late penalty helps England share spoils against India

Matt Gleghorne’s penalty in the final quarter of the game helped England rescue a point for his side against India on Sunday at Ipoh in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.

England were frustrated by a staunch defensive display by India for much of the game despite making 28 circle entries. After storming into the lead towards the end of the first quarter, the four-time winners were threatened for much of the game by the England attackers after Shailanand Lakra scored his first international goal towards the end of the first quarter.

The lead came against the run of play. England got off to a lively start and had threatened the face of goal with a number of circle entries. For all their possession, England couldn’t find a way to breach the resolute Indian defence.

On the counter-attack, India carved the English defence open through a powerful run from Ramandeep Singh, who drifted in from the right. His lofted cut-back to Talwinder Singh was brilliantly deflected by goalkeeper Harry Gibson, but the rebound was calmly tucked into the net by Lakra, who was unchallenged in front of goal.

That goal exposed England’s soft centre, which was ruthlessly exploited by Australia on Saturday. It was all India during the second quarter. Sjoerd Marijne’s side got as many as eight penalty corners during this period, but yet again, India’s failure to capitalise on such situations came back to haunt them at the back end of the game – not a single PC threatened Gibson or the English defenders.

The reigning champions, though, came close to stealing an equaliser before the end of the second half. England’s best chance fell to David Condon, whose reverse hit was saved from point-blank range by Suraj Karkera.

England came out with renewed attacking verve in the third quarter and once again, India’s defence was under siege. But only seldom the English threaten to score. With seven minutes left on the clock, their efforts were rewarded after Nilakanta Sharma’s stick-check on Barry Middleton. Gleghorne made no mistake from the spot to rescue a point for his side.