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Kookaburras secure second win over Black Sticks

 

Kookaburras secure second win over Black Sticks

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Kookaburras secure second win over Black Sticks
The Kookaburras have done the double over Kiwi rivals the New Zealand Black Sticks following up Tuesday’s 3-0 win with a 5-2 victory in front of a packed Tasmanian Hockey Centre.

HOCKEY: The Kookaburras have done the double over Kiwi rivals the New Zealand Black Sticks following up Tuesday’s 3-0 win with a 5-2 victory in front of a packed Tasmanian Hockey Centre.

Home favourite Tasmanian Tim Deavin earned the cheers of the crowd as he netted Australia’s fifth with a rocket in the dying seconds, adding to earlier goals from Chris Ciriello, Blake Govers, Trent Mitton and Jamie Dwyer.

Kookaburras Head Coach Graham Reid said afterwards he was particularly pleased with the number of opportunities his side created, acknowledging that the world champions might have won by a larger margin had they converted everything they created.

“I was pleased with the number of opportunities we created tonight. We scored five goals so it’s pretty hard to be too upset about it but we created more opportunities, which we were chasing,” he said.

“We created a lot more opportunities tonight than we did earlier in the week against them. We held the ball, we moved it around a bit, sucked them out and made sure we were attacking all parts of the circle. I think that was probably the most pleasing thing.”

Australia’s attacking intent was clear to see from the earliest stages as Chris Ciriello broke the deadlock after just four minutes, flicking a penalty corner low into the bottom left for 1-0.

And it was from another set piece just eight minutes later that 18 year old Blake Govers doubled the advantage, rifling home an unstoppable drag flick. It was the NSW youngster’s third goal in as many games since making his debut a week ago.

New Zealand hit back immediately after the quarter time break through Simon Child’s goal low inside the far post, the first goal that the Australians had conceded in their five games this week.

But hopes of a Black Sticks resurgence were dealt a blow when Jamie Dwyer set up Trent Mitton for 3-1 soon after. Kiwi goalkeeper George Enersen had twice denied Australia’s most capped player at close range but could do little as Dwyer picked out Mitton at the back post through a crowd of retreating defenders.

Three penalty corners came and went for the Kookaburras either side of half time while Mitton tested replacement goalkeeper Devon Manchester with a tomahawk in an otherwise quiet start to the third period.

When it came alive again it did so with a flourish as Dwyer found the net with a well-executed goal for 4-1 just a minute before the break.

At the other end, Nick Haig pulled one back for the Black Sticks before Deavin’s late cameo on the score sheet, only his fifth international goal in 105 appearances.

Speaking afterwards, Graham Reid added, “From a defensive point of view I thought we were very good, except for those two goals, which sounds strange but I think they only had three shots.

“When they pressed us we were a little bit exposed. Our guys weren’t close enough to their men so we were left high and dry a bit.

“Overall, I was happy with the number of opportunities and the quality was there too. We just didn’t necessarily execute as well as we’d like. Short corners were the same. We still got a couple but probably had a few more we could have put in.”

In the earlier match, Pakistan battled back from 4-2 down against Korea to earn a thrilling 5-4 victory in the final minutes.

The Kookaburras meet Pakistan in Sunday’s concluding contest at 5pm. The Australians ran out 6-0 winners in their previous meeting last Saturday.

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Kookaburras squad v New Zealand
Name (Hometown/State) Caps/Goals
Started
Daniel Beale (Brisbane, QLD) 54/10
Kiel Brown (Toowoomba, QLD) 158/6
Nick Budgeon (Hobart, TAS) 37/12
Andrew Charter (GK) (Canberra, ACT) 88/0
Christopher Ciriello (Melbourne, VIC) 160/102
Jamie Dwyer (Rockhampton, QLD) 332/216
Matt Gohdes (Rockhampton, QLD) 121/37
Jeremy Hayward (Darwin, NT) 37/13
Mark Knowles (C) (Rockhampton, QLD) 255/22
Eddie Ockenden (Hobart, TAS) 242/60
Simon Orchard (Maitland, NSW) 168/50

Used Substitutes
Tim Deavin (Launceston, TAS) 105/5
Blake Govers (Wollongong, NSW) 3/3
Tyler Lovell (GK) (Perth, WA) 41/0
Trent Mitton (Perth, WA) 71/22
Glenn Simpson (Melbourne, VIC) 126/22
Tristan White (Wollongong, NSW) 53/3
Aran Zalewski (Margaret River, WA) 56/4

^Dylan Wotherspoon is an athlete at the Queensland Academy of Sport and is classified as a QLD athlete but grew up in Mulwillumbah, NSW.


Match Results - Saturday 9 May
Pakistan 5-4 Korea
Australia 5-2 New Zealand


Match Schedule
Sunday 10 May:
New Zealand Black Sticks v Korea [3pm AEST], Kookaburras v Pakistan [5pm AEST]

HOCKEY AUSTRALIA

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