Bhubaneswar: Last minute goal by Navneet Kaur guided the home team to win over England by 3-2 goals in their opening match of the FIH Pro League 2025 at Kalinga Stadium here on Saturday.
The home team made their intensity pretty clear by attacking from both the flanks. They opened their account by Vaishnavi Vitthal Phalke in the sixth minute, however Darcy Bourne scored the equalizer for England in the 12th minute. Again Deepika gave the lead in the 25 minute and the scoreboard read as 2-1 at the end of first-half.
In the 57 minute, England removed their goalkeeper to add another extra player, the tactical move proved to be fruitful for the team and Fiona Crackles leveled the scoreboard 2-2 in the 58th minute and the goalkeeper joined the team again. In a counter attack the Indian team bounced back in the 59th minute, Navneet Kaur scored the winning goal for the team.
“It’s always a warm feeling for the team when you start the season with a winning note. We came with a fixed mind that we have to get three points today. Just two minutes before the final whistle England made it 2-2. We gathered together and decided to attack seriously and in the final minute took away the match from England”, said Indian captain Salima Tete.
“In the last edition of the Pro league we had not made anything remarkable. This was the season opener match for us. Fine we won the match but I had expected a few more goals. These girls had fought hard during their training, day by day the structure and combination is getting the shape. Before moving to Europe, we want to gather as many as possible points from our home matches. It will help our team to finish among the top five teams”, said coach Harendra Singh.
Results: Spain 2 (Estel Petchame 35min, Berta Agullo 59min) Bt Germany 1 (Sophia Schwabe 44min).
India 3(Vaishnavi Vitthal Phalke 6min, Deepika 25min, Navneet Kaur 59min) Bt England 2 (Darcy Bourne 12 min, Fiona Crackles 58min).
