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Aussie men victorious over Belgium

 

Aussie men victorious over Belgium

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AOC
Aussie men victorious over Belgium
Australia defeats Belgium 2-nil after Glenn Turner and Tristan White scored field goals in the second half of the game.

HOCKEY: After a slow first half, the Australian Men's Hockey team has come away with the victory against Belgium at the Hockey Champions Trophy in London, after Glenn Turner and Tristan White scored field goals in the second half of the game.

The Belgium team began the match with sustained attacking pressure, scoring the opportunity for a penalty corner five minutes in to the match, however Andrew Charter kept the ball out of the net and the Aussies managed to quickly get the ball back down in to their circle.

After an uneventful quarter the first term ended with both teams yet to score. The second quarter saw much of the same with both teams running the length of the pitch a number of times.

The third quarter began with an early shot on penalty corner for the Belgium team, but the Red Lions were unable to convert to a goal. They followed up with another penalty corner opportunity only minutes later but again the Australian defence were too good.

In the 38th minute of the game, the first goal of the match finally came to Glenn Turner after a deflection from Aran Zalewski. Flynn Ogilvie followed up by doing everything he could to get the ball back in the Kookaburras circle, sliding across the pitch and stopping the ball from going out of play.

The final quarter came with Australia looking to maintain their lead. In the 49th minute, Tristan White not only maintained the lead, but extended it by scoring a field goal, taking the Kookaburras out to two nil against Belgium.

The Red Lions had two opportunities on penalty corners with only minutes to go in the game, but the Kookaburras defence kept them at bay giving the Australian's a two nil victory.

Head Coach Graham Reid said: “It was a good lesson for us. We didn’t wake up until the second quarter of the game, and then we started to play a bit better.

“The numbers behind the scene weren’t good for us tonight, whereas normally they are. They’re usually a sign that we create a lot of opportunities and that we don’t give too many away but tonight was opposite.”

Tristan White commented: “It was a really tough first quarter, they’re big, strong guys and they kind of put it to us in the first quarter and we knew we had to wake up as Graham [Reid] said to us at the break. We worked hard and were able to run over the top in the end so it was really pleasing.

Commenting on his goal, White said: “The goal just fell for me; I swung and it went in so I’m happy with that.”

The Kookaburras next play India on Thursday 16 June at 4pm BST / 11.00pm AWST / 1am AEST (Friday 17).

                                                                                         
Kookaburras’ squad v Belgium

Daniel Beale (Brisbane, QLD) 79/15

Josh Beltz (Hobart, TAS) 13/2

Andrew Charter (Canberra, ACT) 113/0

Matthew Dawson (Killarney Vale, NSW) 45/7

Tim Deavin (Launceston, TAS) 130/6

Trent Mitton (Perth, WA) 92/34

Eddie Ockenden (Hobart, TAS) 276/65

Matthew Swann (Mackay, QLD) 139/6

Glenn Turner (Goulburn, NSW) 128/93

Tristan White (Wollongong, NSW) 79/5

Aran Zalewski (Margaret River, WA) 90/11


Used Substitute

Blake Govers (Wollongong, NSW) 30/26

Jeremy Hayward (Darwin, NT) 58/17

Flynn Ogilvie (Wollongong, NSW) 32/11

Simon Orchard (Maitland, NSW) 201/56

Andrew Philpott (Melbourne, VIC) 27/1

 
Unused Substitute

Chris Ciriello (Melbourne, VIC) 188/114

Tyler Lovell (Perth, WA) 68/0

 

Kookaburras’ Fixtures

Thursday June 16, AUS v IND: 4pm BST / 11.00pm AWST / 1am AEST (Friday 17)

Friday June 17, TBC

 
Hockey Australia

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