HOCKEY: The Kookaburras defeated Korea in their Champions Trophy pool game at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
Five minutes into the game and Australia had the first chance at a penalty corner, with a narrow miss before they reclaimed control of the ball. It was a strong quarter for the Kookaburras, however at the end of the first quarter the score remained at nil all.
With only three minutes to go in the second quarter Australia were in contention for a penalty corner. Glenn Turner injected, and Blake Govers gave a fast flick to score Australia’s first goal of the tournament.
Five minutes into the third quarter and Trent Mitton went in for what would have been a spectacular goal sliding across the circle, but narrowly missing the net.
Eddie Ockenden was quick to pick up the pace for the Kookaburras knocking in a quick field goal only minutes later. Korea answered the goal with a field goal of their own only a minute later thanks to Kim Juhun.
Lee Jungjun backed up Korea’s first field goal with another of his own in the last minute of the third quarter, leaving the score level at two apiece going in to the final quarter.
With nine minutes of the game to go, Australia had an opportunity at penalty corner. Beale injected, and Trent Mitton came through to score on the deflection from Chris Ciriello. Sealing the victory for Australia, Glenn Turner slammed a field goal into the net in the final minute of the game.
Kookaburras Head Coach Graham Reid said: “I was happy with the four goals of course. I wasn’t happy with our finishing - we need to get much better at that.
“Our fourth quarter was better, Korea set us a good challenge. It was two all at three quarter time and then we scored two goals in that last quarter which was a really good effort. I think the boys proved to themselves that we can get out of that kind of situation and they did it well.”
Earlier in the day play was disrupted in the game between Belgium and Germany due to heavy rain, causing a slight delay. The game resumed and resulted in a four all tie between the two teams.
Great Britain and India played a fast paced game, with the visiting team better on the day, defeating the home team 2 – 1.
The Kookaburras next play Germany on Monday June 13 at 2pm BST / 9.00pm AWST / 11.00pm AEST
Results today
BEL 4 – 4 GER
GBR 1 – 2 IND
AUS 4 – 2 KOR
Kookaburras’ squad v Korea
Daniel Beale (Brisbane, QLD) 77/15
Andrew Charter (Canberra, ACT) 111/0
Matthew Dawson (Killarney Vale, NSW) 43/7
Blake Govers (Wollongong, NSW) 28/25
Jeremy Hayward (Darwin, NT) 56/17
Trent Mitton (Perth, WA) 90/34
Simon Orchard (Maitland, NSW) 199/56
Andrew Philpott (Melbourne, VIC) 25/1
Matthew Swann (Mackay, QLD) 137/6
Tristan White (Wollongong, NSW) 77/3
Aran Zalewski (Margaret River, WA) 88/10
Used Substitute
Josh Beltz (Hobart, TAS) 11/2
Chris Ciriello (Melbourne, VIC) 188/114
Tim Deavin (Launceston, TAS) 128/6
Eddie Ockenden (Hobart, TAS) 274/65
Flynn Ogilvie (Wollongong, NSW) 30/11
Glenn Turner (Goulburn, NSW) 126/91
Unused Substitute
Tyler Lovell (Perth, WA) 67/0
Kookaburras’ Fixtures
Monday June 13, AUS v GER: 2pm BST / 9.00pm AWST / 11.00pm AEST
Tuesday June 14, AUS v BEL: 8pm BST / 3am AWST (Wednesday 15) / 5am AEST (Wednesday 15)
Thursday June 16, AUS v IND: 4pm BST / 11.00pm AWST / 1am AEST (Friday 17)
Friday June 17, TBC
Hockey Australia
