We missed Hardik in game against Wales: Akashdeep Singh

India were far from being impressive in their 42 win over Wales in their final FIH Mens Hockey World Cup pool game and twin goal scorer Akashdeep Singh said the home team felt the absence of injured midfielder Hardik SinghHardik who sustained a hamstring injury and missed the Wales match is uncertain for the remainder of the tournamentIndia needed to beat Wales by a margin of eight goals against Wales on Thursday to top Pool D and qualify directly for the quarterfinals But they failed to do so and will now face New Zealand in their crossover match on Sunday to make it to the last eight stageWe could not score too many goals in the first two quarters we scored only one But we were able to score three more in the third and final quarters I was able to contribute for the team so I am very happy said the 28yearold Akashdeep who has played for more than 200 senior international matchesWe could not make it to the quarterfinals directly but we hope to be there by winning our crossover matchAsked if the team felt the absence of injured Hardik Akashdeep said Yes when you have 18 players to play for a team and because of some reason if you are one player less the remaining players will play more time and become tiredSo definitely we felt his absence I feel he will recover in time for the next match and play against New Zealand Its a do or die match against New Zealand We are physically and mentally ready for the matchAlso readFIH Hockey World Cup Argentina toil to beat South Africa 10 in FIH mens World Cup openerHardik who scored a brilliant goal against Spain with a solo effort got injured in the goalless draw against England Head coach Graham Reid said a decision on his availability will be taken a day before the crossover match against New Zealand India and Wales were 22 at the end of the third quarter but Akashdeep restored Indias lead in the first minute of the fourth quarter with a fine field goal as his thunderous reverse shot beat the Wales goalkeeper all ends upWe played according to the plan we had decided before the match It was difficult to score as they Wales have 10 men in their circle Hopefully we can do better in scoring goals in the next match against New Zealand Akashdeep saidAll the teams have become better while defending penalty corners But definitely we can improve upon that also said the player from Punjab who was in good form in the fivematch series against Australia just before the World CupAsked if he was satisfied with the outcome of the match Akashdeep said No player or team is never satisfied with the performance there is always room for improvement There is no perfect match and players make mistakes We will be satisfied if we learn from those mistakesCaptain Harmanpreet Singh who scored his first goal from penalty corners in the match against Wales said his side need improvement in some aspects of the gameThe coach said we were lacking a bit of energy as compared to the matches against Spain and England We need to play the ball more upfront and convert the chances that came our way So we will try to improve on these things said the captainReid said India ought to take positives from the below par performance and reminded the players that nothing is easyWe were behind the game at the back a little bit too much But when we have to dig deep which we did against Wales we are in good stead for the next stage The players fought against Wales and that is what pleased me though we lacked finishing and could not simply put the ball in the opposition goalWe lost our first match in the 2014 World Cup 2018 WC was an unusual one qualifying directly to the quarterfinals after topping pool So we have to fight our way nowThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever