Pol Amat Escude of Spain in a tussle with Harpal Singh in Kuala Lumpur on Friday. (AFP)

Kuala Lumpur: Spain dashed India’s hopes of chalking up their first win with a decisive 4-1 drubbing while Australia beat Germany 4-2 to set up a title clash with Pakistan in the seven-nation Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament on Friday.

The defeat, their fifth in six matches, signalled the end of India’s run as they finished seventh and last at the conclusion of their league campaign with just one point from the draw with Malaysia.

Spain, for whom Santiago Freixa (6th), Xavier Ribas (21st), Victor Sojo (42nd) and Juan Escarre (69th) scored, completed their league fixtures with eight points.

The Indians’ only goal came in the 66th minute when Len Aiyappa converted the fourth penalty corner.

Midfield errors and an unforgivable miss by Sandeep Michael as early as in the third minute dashed India’s hopes and the decision to field an unfit Baljeet Singh Dhillon, who is nursing a fractured nose, made little difference.

India were left to rue the lapse on part of Michael who could not score from a one-on-one situation with goalkeeper Berardino Herrera following a counter-attack.

Vikram Pillay scrambled the ball upfield and fed Dhillon who unleashed a great left-to-right diagonal pass to Michael. The forward, left free, merely pushed the ball into Herrera, and with that went India’s best scoring chance.

Spain earned a penalty corner when Pol Amat took a hard crack at the goal following a swift counter-attack. D’Souza blocked at the expense of a penalty corner which Freixa converted.

The Spaniards scored from their fifth penalty corner when Ribas drag-flicked to net.

Seven minutes into the second-half, Spain virtually sealed the match when Sojo finished a right-wing counter-attack with a reverse flick past a fallen D’Souza.

A minute left for the close, Juan Escarre found the boards from yet another counter-attack to snuff out the last of Indian challenge.

Road to final

Meanwhile, the Aussies punished Germany for their mistakes and goals by Michael McCann (14th minute), Travis Brooks (36th) and Grant Schubert (65th and 68th) paved the way for a deserving win.

Pakistan have already qualified for the final.

The Germans, who needed only a draw to advance to the final, were kept afloat by a Matthias Wittahaus goal in the 32nd, but then on the day, the world champions, especially skipper Florian Kunz, committed far too many mistakes against a side that kept its focus.

Australia finished the league with 11 points from three wins and two draws, while Germany ended on 10 after suffering their second defeat. They won three and drew one.

McCann gave Aussies a good start when he put home a Tristram Woodhouse pass midway through the first session, but the Germans equalised close to half-time as Witthaus found the net off Christoph Eimer.

Thus, with the scores tied 1-1 at the break, the game was on knife- edge. But the Aussies got the upperhand when they struck soon after resumption with brooks pounding in a free-hit.

Thereafter, the Germans defended well but the pressure told on them as they conceded two goals in three minutes with the opportunistic Schubert coming up with two neat deflections before Witthaus pulled one back in the final minute.