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"The good thing is we did not give away so much. We conceded only two penalty corners one in the first minute and one in the last. In between, our defense was very well organised. We knew we had to at least draw but we came here to win and get at least 5 points. There are some areas we have to improve," Oltmans said.

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Press Trust of India
Looking ahead he said, "We have a couple of days now. Saturday (semis at Ranchi) is the next important match, we have a match on Thursday (last league game against Delhi Waveriders), I know that, but the real important one is on Saturday. Our results have been up and down. I am happy to be in the semis and we are looking forward to play any team. We know it's a tough competition and teams are very close Talking about his team's overall display, Oltmans insisted that executing plans was important rather than focusing on end results. "It's about the process leading to performance. I keep telling players... Don't think about the result but only about the plan and its execution and stick to that whatever happens in the game. "That's a learning process for them because sometimes when you are 1-0 down with five-six minutes left, they lose their heads and we are 2-0 down. You have enough time to change things (when down 1-0) and that's what you have to learn. "I am also curious to see if we are unable to perform at a consistent level. I would like to see improvement in the goal scoring area as we could have scored four goals though we scored one at the beginning of the game." Oltmans said the strikers need to be extra sharp in the league as the teams have some excellent goalkeepers. "The opponents have some really good goalies as well, (Japp) Stockmann in Punjab (Warriors), (Nicholas) Jacobi (Delhi Waveriders), he is a really good goalkeeper, so when you get your chances you really need to be like a knife in the deep. He praised Indian youngsters Pradeep Mor and Harbir Singh as ones who have shown a lot of improvement. "From our team, Pradeep Mor has taken huge steps and difficult for him as he doesn't speak English I use Tushar Khandekar as translator. Harbir Singh who has showed in every match he can play at different positions, has really great potential from my point of view." Defending the strange rule that even a loss could get a team a point if the defeat is not by more than two goals, Oltmans said this helped sustain interest till the last phase of the round robin. "Till the 11th game all teams had a chance which was important for spectators and TV viewers. Obviously, there would be discussions after the league," he said.

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First Published: Feb 06 2013 | 4:30 PM IST

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