London : India conceded a surprise early goal but made a fine comeback by pumping in four quick goals to beat minnows Scotland 4-1 in their opening match of Hockey World League Semifinal here today.Scotland captain Chris Grassick struck in the sixth minute to stun the Indians.
Trailing till halftime, India recovered and scored four times in the third quarter — through Ramandeep Singh (31st and 34th minutes), Akashdeep Singh (40th) and Harmanpreet Singh (42nd) — to run away with full points. While the Scottish goalkeeper Thomas Alexander was impressive with his saves at the start, Grassick’s splendid deflection beat Vikas Dahiya to stun India.
The halftime break worked wonders as Ramandeep struck a cracker of a goal with a reverse hit from the top of the circle to equalise. He struck again, deflecting in forward SV Sunil’s pass from the baseline. Skipper Manpreet Singh set up Akashdeep, who timed his run to perfection to receive the pass and deflect it in. Within no time, Harmanpreet made it 4-1 with a blistering drag-flick into the top corner.