AFC U-20 Asian Cup Qualifiers: India go down to Australia

Skipper Gurkirat Singh scored the lone goal for India while Garng Koul, Adrian Segecic and Max Caputo registered their names on the scoresheet for Australia. Bikash Yumnam added to India's woes as he scored an own goal. India were beaten 2-4 in their opener by Iraq last week. Trailing by two first half goals, India displayed lots of spirit in the second, and pulled one back through Gurkirat, whose sudden long ranger in the 63rd minute caught the Australia goalkeeper Jack Warshawsky on the wrong foot before hitting the post and going in. It wasn't the only time when India had the Australia defence in trouble.

In fact, on more than one occasion the Indians came close to bringing down the rival goal, but poor marksmanship and bad luck denied India at least a couple of goals that could have made the story of the day a little different. After reducing the margin through Gurkirat, India had a golden chance to restore parity in the 76th minute. The Indian captain was once again in the thick of things as he rounded off the advancing Aussie goalkeeper to send the ball across an empty goal. Taison ran in from the other side to flick it, but it was blocked off the line at the nick of time. The post denied India another golden opportunity early in the second half when Himanshu Jangra cut inside in great style only to find his shot coming back after hitting the nearest upright on the left side. In the first half, Australia took the lead in the 12th minute when Garang received the ball just inside the Indian box and smashed it in after going past defender Amandeep. The Indians faltered in the midfield as Alex Bandolato was allowed to take the ball in the middle without a proper challenge and he made most of it by sending a perfect