KARACHI, March 9: Although a win is great and Pakistan did get three valuable points as a result of their 4-3 victory over New Zealand right at the start of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, the Green Shirts still need to work on their defence to stay at the top, said Olympian Islahuddin Siddiqui on Saturday.

“It is a good start and a win is a win because it gives you three points. However, there is the team’s defence that needs to be checked. It was the reason Pakistan’s 3-0 lead was equalised to 3-3 and then it was anyone’s game. Luckily for Pakistan, Haseem got the fourth goal to make it a 4-3 win,” the former captain and coach observed while speaking to Dawn.

“If you ask me, after getting such a good lead, the team should have gone in for more goals. They could have at least gotten four or five goals to put more pressure on New Zealand’s defence,” he said.

“But instead the 10 to 15 minutes after getting the lead saw our defence taking pressure from New Zealand’s attack,” Islah pointed out.

“Pakistan’s defence, while maintaining the lead should have properly marked the other team’s forwards. But they ended up giving them too much gap. Not marking the opposing team’s frontrunners gave them space to enter the ‘D’ to take penalty corners. In this particular case, they got two of their goals on penalty corners while one was a field goal.

“The defender should cover the offender so well that he shouldn’t even be able to receive the ball and if he does manage to do that then he shouldn’t be able to make his move with that ball. Both these things can only happen if you give the player gap,” he explained.

“All of the teams featuring in the Azlan Shah Cup are known to play open and fast hockey so Pakistan should be careful with giving gaps, which can prove costly,” he added.

Meanwhile, about the Pakistan team itself, Islah said that he didn’t think that it was a new side as being claimed by the Pakistan Hockey Federation.

“With the exception of Tasawwar Abbas who has come to the senior team from the junior side, the others have all played for the senior team at least once or twice, so Pakistan is playing with its full strength as the other teams in the competition have also left behind two or three of their regular players in favour of new blood,” he said.