There was a phase of play of not more than 10 seconds in Indian women's 7th-8th classification match against Ireland on Saturday that gave the viewer an insight into the biggest problem with the team at the World Hockey League Semi-Final.
India were leading 1-0, had seen their captain Rani Rampal's penalty stroke saved by the Irish goalkeeper, and had a goal ruled out following an umpire's referral due to a back stick from Rani just before the ball trickled over to Vandana Katariya who had slotted it into an empty goal.
The Irish were just about hanging in there, and finding little joy against a disciplined Indian defence, despite doing most of the attacking in the first half. This was with 10 seconds to the half-time hooter, and Monika Malik had the field open to herself deep inside the Indian half, with Ireland also missing a player through a 10-minute suspension of their first-choice goalkeeper.
Yet Monika -- arguably India's best performer over the past fortnight in Johannesburg -- chose to pass to her closest defensive partner. India kept possession, Ireland sat back in their half, and there were some relieved smiles on a few Indian faces when time ran out.
This, after 30 minutes of play where they should have been 3-0 up and out of sight of the Irish.
Simply put, India weren't brave enough.
Ireland came back strong in the fourth quarter, breaching the excellent Savita Punia's defence from two penalty corners, and India were left to rue their missed chances. An eighth-place finish marks this as their worst World League ever -- they beat Chile to finish seventh in the Semi-Final in Rotterdam in 2013, and their 1-0 win over Japan in Antwerp at the same stage two years later took them to their first Olympics in 36 years.
This defeat leaves them on the fringe of elimination from the 2018 World Cup in England, but even if circumstances help them qualify, what will they need to do to turn their fortunes around?
Midfield dominance was absent
The biggest problem for India through their seven games in Johannesburg was the lack of domination in the centre of the pitch. Savita was excellent in goal and, barring a few lapses at crucial moments against higher-ranked teams, the defence also held firm.
India's forwards got better as the tournament progressed -- Vandana being a good example of someone who battled hard through the games without ample reward -- but they just lacked ample supply from the midfield. The most experienced of them, former captain Ritu Rani, had a poor tournament, and that often left too much for Rani, Vandana and Navjot Kaur to do.
Poor penalty corner conversion
When India won the Asian Champions Trophy for the first time in Singapore last November, former coach Neil Hawgood had identified the poor conversion rate of PCs as a concern.
In eight months, that weakness hasn't been ironed out enough for a team seeking to become top class. Gurjit Kaur, the only drag-flick specialist, managed goals against both England and Ireland. However, her relative weakness as a defender was exposed in the tournament opener by South Africa, and she saw lesser game time in the remaining matches. It is a chicken-and-egg situation with a newcomer like her -- the more she plays, the better she will get, but the management will have to factor in those mistakes.
Slow starts hurt India
Twelfth-ranked India allowed the opposition to get on top in virtually every match in Johannesburg. While it was not unexpected against the US (6), Argentina (3) and perhaps even Japan (11), they were pegged back early by both South Africa (13) and Ireland (15). They scrapped their way to a goalless draw against the former, and even led the latter for most of the match, but for a team that seems to count defence as the greater strength area, they need to be more energetic in the first quarter of matches.
Not over yet
India are just a few months into coach Sjoerd Marijne's time with them, and perhaps the biggest adjustment yet is in aligning the team with his coaching philosophy. That they have fluffed their first genuine chance to make their way to England in 2018 would be deeply disappointing.
They must put all of this behind them, however, and focus on the Asia Cup in Japan that starts on October 28. It is an event they won in 2004, and with the confidence of having won the continental Champions Trophy last year, they must approach it as their last chance to make it to the World Cup. China, South Korea and Japan are all ranked higher than India at the moment -- and India's ranking might fall after the World League Semi-Final -- but they have three months to work on all the shortcomings.
A back door for India could be available since they are ranked higher than Belgium (14), who finished eighth at the other World League Semi-Final in Brussels earlier. This makes them the 15th-ranked teams after the World League, and with 16 places in England next year, it will need four of the five continental championships to go in favour of teams already qualified for the World Cup for India to make it through.
But nothing should deflect from the fact that there's a lot of work to be done in Indian women's hockey.