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Black Sticks coach Shane McLeod was happy enough when his team scored early in both tests against India in the weekend double-header in Wellington. He was bitterly disappointed they then threw that advantage away.
The visitors came back to end Saturday's first test 1-1 when Shivendra Singh's 55th-minute equaliser cancelled out the goal scored in the fourth minute by captain Phil Burrows in his 212th international. Yesterday it was even worse for the home side.
Simon Child also had the Black Sticks ahead in the fourth minute after Brad Shaw had set him up with a well-directed pass from the left. Child crashed the ball home from an acute angle.
Good defence, led by goalkeeper Steve Graham, kept the visitors at bay until the half-hour mark when Tushar Khandekar gathered a freehit on the right, pivoted and scored with a stunning reverse stick shot for 1-1.
Five minutes into the second half the deadlock was broken when drag flick expert Sandeep Singh hit the top-left corner of the New Zealand goal with the match-winner.
"We have to play for the whole 70 minutes," said McLeod later. "We are starting well but not finishing the job off. Leading 1-0 in hockey is nothing as the results here have shown. We struggled to put the Indians under pressure and we did not create enough opportunities of our own to win. Some players are not up to the standard we want to be competitive internationally."
While Brad Shaw did well enough, Bryce Collins who also has come back into the side, is, by his own admission, still a "bit rusty".
McLeod also needs to sort out his options in the pivotal centre-half role with Nick Haig given time there yesterday.
India will play a New Zealand A team drawn from players in the central and southern regions and including six or seven Black Sticks in Wellington tomorrow and another New Zealand A team, drawn from the northern region, in Auckland on Thursday before the final two tests at Lloyd Elsmore Park next weekend.
