Pakistan came through a tough opening pool A match against Scotland 3-0 to pick up three points in men’s hockey in the Commonwealth Games here on Tuesday.
Veterans Shakeel Abbasi (20th) and Rehan Butt (25th) put Pakistan ahead in the first-half. Muhammad Imran rounded off the tally with a penalty corner conversion in the 43rd minute.
But it was not as if the Scots were blown away.
“It was a tough game for us. Starting a tournament is always the hardest. There were zero goals against us, and I am happy at our performance,” said Pakistan head coach Michel van den Heuchel.
Pakistan skipper Zeeshan Ashraf warned there would be no easy matches in the competition.
“Our finishing was not up to the mark today and all the matches will be tough, but we will do our best. In 2006, we came away with a silver medal and hopefully this time too we will be on the podium,” said Ashraf.
Scotland captain and goalkeeper Alister McGregor said: “We are not used to playing in this heat and we gave away the ball far too many times.”
