Greenshirts suffer second defeat in Nations Cup

KARACHI: Pakistan hockey team suffered their second successive defeat in the FIH Nations Cup as Ireland got the better of Greenshirts 3-1 in the event being played in South Africa.

Hanan Shahid netted the opener for Pakistan in the 15th minute. Conar Embey drew level in the 17th minute. Benhamin Walker doubled the score in the 31st minute with Shane O’dunaghue making it 3-1 for Ireland in the 49th minute.

On Monday, hosts South Africa gave the home crowd a lot to cheer as they produced a fluent attacking performance winning 6-2 against Pakistan. South Africa were clinical from the set pieces, scoring from two penalty corners and a penalty stroke in the first half. Tyson Dlungwana penalty corner opened the scoring for the hosts, and while Pakistan pulled level through Rooman, South Africa were not bogged down and continued to attack, scoring twice in the second quarter to take a comfortable lead into the interval.

The pace of the game remained frantic in the second half as well, with South Africa striking first through a magical deflection by Tevin Kok, with his back to the goal, that snuck in between the keeper’s legs.