KARACHI: The Pakistan U21 hockey team lost their opening match 3-2 against Spain\u2019s junior side in Terrassa, Spain yesterday but won the next match to level the three-match series.
\nThe visitors had won six matches in a row in Netherlands and looked to be in similar form in the first match when they opened the scoring in the 20th minute through a Shan Irshad field goal. However, Spain\u2019s Quique Glez de Castejon levelled the scoring in the 25th minute before Geri gave them the lead just four minutes leader.
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\nPakistan then converted a penalty corner in the 39th minute of the game to make it 2-2 but Geri once again made the difference when he struck in the 50th minute to give hosts Spain the lead yet again. This time around, there was no leveller for Pakistan who tasted their first defeat of the tournament.
\n\u201cWe did our best but their team had some good skills,\u201d captain Ammad Butt told The Express Tribune. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have time to get used to the ground condition as we arrived here at night and played the match the next morning.\u201d
\nButt feels they need to cut down the number of mistakes in their game. \u201cWe scored two goals against them, but they took full advantage of our defenders\u2019 mistakes and got the winning goal,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cWe have to get these small mistakes out of our system if we are to succeed with the national side.\u201d
\nThe team responded in the next game with Pakistan once again opening the scoring through Dilber Hussain in the 20th minute. Spain\u2019s Bulto Gimo made it 1-1 soon after though.
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\nHussain struck again in the 33rd minute, only to see yet another equaliser for Spain, this time by Jan Lara.
\nPakistan\u2019s Atiq Arshad made it 3-2 in favour of the visitors but the visitors could not hold on as De Castejon scored late in the 57th minute to take the match into a penalty shootout.
\nThe Colts kept their nerve in the shootout and won 5-4, to take the series into a decider tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KARACHI: The Pakistan U21 hockey team lost their opening match 3-2 against Spain\u2019s junior side in Terrassa, Spain yesterday but won the next match to level the three-match series. The visitors had won six matches in a row in Netherlands and looked to be in similar form in the first match when they opened the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n