Ireland brace for do-or-die battle with England

China 1 Ireland 1

[team1]China[/team1][score1]1[/score1][team2]Ireland[/team2][score2]1[/score2][/score]

Ireland endured a trying exercise in frustration as gritty China defied their underdog status to secure a 1-1 draw, leaving the Green Machine with a do-or-die date on Friday with England.

Indeed, it might have been worse for Ireland but for Alan Sothern’s agility to turn home an equaliser in the 44th minute.

That cancelled out Jin Guo’s heavily deflected drag-flick two minutes earlier, one of just three shots in anger from the Asian side.

Ireland had many more but while all the attacking stats were heavily in their favour, they could not make them count on the big neon board in Bhubaneswar. It leaves Ireland still waiting for their first World Cup win since 1978.

We performed well but our lack of clinicalness in conversion in the opponent’s D came back to haunt us,” Ireland goalkeeper David Harte said afterward. “If you look at the statistics, circle entries, shots on goal, it was all in our favour but if you don’t take what is presented to you, you know it is going to be difficult.

In the first half Ireland were particularly dominant against an ultra-defensive Chinese side, intent on packing their 23-metre zone.

An early goal could have settled things and it looked on the cards numerous times. Sothern spliced a shot on the spin over; another of his touches from a high Shane O’Donoghue cross was initially awarded as a goal by umpire Javed Saikh before his colleague Simon Taylor pointed out the ball had gone wide.

Eugene Magee was a constant threat — playing with two broken fingers — but too often, crosses and pull-backs from the baseline missed their mark.

The pattern continued for the early stages of the second period with Sothern’s first time reverse skimming wide and Darling’s pop-shot floating across the face of goal.

Then came the suckerpunch. Against England, China scored twice from just two shots and they were almost as efficient here, netting from their second attack.

It came when Jonathan Bell was sin-binned for a foul wide on the right, leading to a corner. It was switched to Guo who aimed low but an out-stretched defensive stick deflected the ball to the roof of the net for a 1-0 lead.

Ireland replied instantly with Michael Robson ripping a cross into the path of Sothern to turn home toward the end of the third quarter.

They could not kick on from there, however, as China protected the scoreline, aided by overly fussy umpires that slowed the game frequently.

The big chance came from a penalty corner with two minutes to go. It was cleverly moved into Shane O’Donoghue’s path but his high shot was parried away by Caiyu Wang to safety.

Earlier, Australia struck three times in the last quarter to beat England 3-0. It leaves Ireland third in the pool with a draw against England enough to see them through to the crossover games.

That will be easier said than done against the world number seven side; in 2017’s Europeans, the scenario was exactly the same but England prevailed 2-1.

“We know what their threats are and where we can exploit them,” Harte said of that tie. “We will take our two days recovery, get our gameplan ready and go all guns blazing for the last game.”

IRELAND: D Harte, J Bell, M Nelson, A Sothern, E Magee, K Shimmins, S O’Donoghue, S Murray, P Gleghorne, C Harte, S Loughrey.

Subs: M Bell, C Cargo, M Darling, M Robson, D Walsh, L Cole, D Fitzgerald

CHINA: C Wang, X Guo, S Ao, Wenhui E, Y Ao, D Meng, J Su, L Su, T Du, Z Guo, W Ao Subs: Q Guan, N Meng, W Su, C Du, Wenlong E, J Guo, Z Ao