Confident Indian Women's Hockey Team will take on Ireland on Thursday

After a valiant start to their campaign at the Vitality Hockey Women's World Cup London 2018 where the Indian Women's Hockey Team drew 1-1 with hosts and World No.2 England, the Rani-led squad will take on Ireland in their second Pool B match on Thursday here at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Stadium. Though a surprise win was possible for the Indian side on Saturday when they took on the Olympic Champions with all their might and continued to lead 1-0 after Neha Goyal had struck in the 25th minute for India, a defensive lapse in countering PC saw India concede a late goal in the 54th minute through Lily Owsley. Though India settled for a draw, the team skipper Rani is happy with her team's performance that held their own in front of a packed stadium cheering for the home team. "I think it was a great match, a good start for us. There are so many positives that we can draw from that match which will help us in the upcoming matches in the tournament. I don't think we surprised with our performance because we have done well against England in the past and this time we went for a win," stated an assertive Rani. She further added that the team watched the videos from their opening match and are better prepared for the next challenge against Ireland. 

"The entire team including support staff sat down for a meeting after the match to discuss our performance. We also discussed the goal we conceded and how we could have averted it. Our team feels we can do better than what we played against England and the aim is to improve match-by-match," added the striker. World No.16 Ireland, on the other hand, will be coming into their second match after a brace 3-1 win against a much higher-ranked USA who are placed No.7 in the World Ranking. Ireland is currently leading Pool B and would want to carry on that momentum into the game against India. "Yes, we have watched videos from Ireland's match against USA and credit goes to them for a good start and good defending to hold their lead till the end. In the three days rest that we have had, we played few practice matches among ourselves to try out different methods in goal scoring and keep up the momentum. We need to make a good start against Ireland and keep up the pressure on them. We are confident and ready for the next challenge," she concluded. --- Also read: Rankings don’t matter much in modern hockey: Rani Rampal