Ipoh (Malaysia), May 10: By tightening the defence and improving the midfield play, coach Ajay Kumar Bansal hopes to revive India's plummeting fortunes as the side is all set to take on Canada in their third outing of the Azlan Shah hockey tournament here on Sunday.

The Sardara Singh-led Indian side has lost its first two matches but Bansal said the team would not be affected by past disappointments and would avoid soft goals against the Canadians.

"Tomorrow is another day and we don't hang on to past results. I watched the Canada-Belgium match here. I am confident a victory is within our reach," Bansal said as the Indians had some intense training on the rest day today.

India went down to Argentina 1-5 yesterday and Bansal thought such defeats could be avoided.

"Yesterday, we lost not because we did not play well, but because we conceded two easy goals in the second half. My focus now is midfield and defence. Soft goals are dangerous and spoil the team's morale. This was exactly what happened against Argentina," he said.

One issue that should worry Bansal is the performance of recalled star Sandeep Singh, who scored three goals against New Zealand and just one yesterday.

Asked if he depended too much on Sandeep for the goals, Bansal said: "I have not instructed my forwards not to strike. They are inexperienced and I would have loved to have a player like Tushar Khandekar."

"I don't look at the outcome of a match solely on the basis of scoreline. Forwards are doing reasonably well," he added.