Madrid, June 14: The second match of the five matches between the Indian Women's Hockey Team and Spain ended in a 1-1 draw here at the Consejo Superior de Deportes Hockey Stadium on Wednesday (June 13).
It was a match of two halves as hosts Spain dominated the match in the first two quarters, but the Indian team made a comeback in the latter two quarters. It was Spain's Berta Bonastre who opened the scoring in the 14th minute, but India's Anupa Barla cancelled out her goal in the 54th minute which resulted in a well-fought draw.
Anupa equalizes with minutes to spare as the Indian Women's Hockey Team salvage a draw in the second of their five-match series against @AbsolutaFem, played on 13th June, as a constant offensive effort was denied by our opponents' resolute defense #IndiaKaGame #INDvESP pic.twitter.com/k2yrUS8Emp
— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) June 13, 2018
World No. 10 India started the second quarter well and had a couple of chances, but could not beat the Spanish Goalkeeper Maria Ruiz. The Indian midfield made sure that they won back possession quickly to put pressure on the hosts, but they held a resolute defensive structure to take their 1-0 lead into half-time.
India started to get into rhythm in the third quarter with the defence keeping out Spain's efforts and converting defence into attack quickly. A strong performance in the quarter from the Indian team saw them knocking on the hosts' door, with Skipper Rani coming close to finding an equaliser in the latter minutes of the quarter.
India's Chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne replaced Goalkeeper Savita with Swati at the start of the fourth quarter. The World No. 10 team continued playing some attacking hockey in the last quarter as well and put constant pressure on the hosts, which saw the visitors earn an equaliser in the 54th minute when Barla's deflected shot went past Ruiz into the back of the net.
The Indian team could have scored a late winner as they were high on confidence in the closing stages of the match, however Ruiz came to the World No. 11 team's rescue to keep the scores levelled at 1-1.
The two teams will next play the third of their five matches on Friday (June 15) at 11 PM IST.
Source: Hockey India Press Release