HOCKEY: The second game in the test series featuring the Kookaburras against Great Britain took place in Narrogin, Western Australia in an action packed match that saw Australia narrowly defeat the visitors.
Australia kicked off the game with an immediate attempt on goal, with Eddie Ockenden taking a shot from just outside the shooting circle. Continuing with their mission to get an early lead, Australia scored the first chance on a penalty corner which was injected by Daniel Beale, with the onward play slightly off the mark and missing the goal opportunity.
A scramble in the Great Britain scoring circle saw Ashley Jackson hit the ball from a deflection, scoring the first goal of the match for Great Britain. Jackson quickly followed up with a penalty corner goal taking the lead out to two nil.
Australia came back fighting in the second quarter, with Blake Govers scoring a penalty corner with an excellent drag flick. Minutes later and Australia tied the score line with a penalty corner flick from Matthew Dawson flying straight past the Great Britain goalkeeper and into the net.
The third quarter was fast paced with both teams desperate to take the lead. Blake Govers provided Australia with that opportunity 43 minutes into the game with a penalty corner drag flick that sailed into goal.
Great Britain was on a mission to even the playing field, and minutes into the final quarter Sam Ward scored a penalty corner to do just that. With only a minute to go, Blake Govers nailed a penalty corner to give him a hat trick for the match, and Australia the win.
Kookaburras Head Coach, Graham Reid commented: “It was another war of attrition against Great Britain - it always is. I thought the couple of goals they got went against the play, which put us back a bit. Our first eight or nine minutes were really good, but then they got a quick goal, then we had a green card (Mark Knowles) and then they got another goal, so we were two nil down.
“The second quarter was better, we came back to two all. The third quarter was again good, we just lacked something in the early part of the fourth but we finished reasonably well. There are a lot of learnings that we can take from this so we’ll be going back and trying to get as much from this as we can.”
The final game in the series will take place on Tuesday, 24 May at the Perth Hockey Stadium at 6.30pm AWST / 8.30pm AEST.
Kookaburras’ squad v Great Britain
Started
Daniel Beale (Brisbane, QLD) 734/15
Joshua Beltz (Hobart, Tasmania) 9/2
Andrew Charter (Canberra, ACT) 109/0
Matthew Dawson (Killarney Vale, NSW) 41/7
Timothy Deavin (Launceston, Tasmania) 125/6
Jeremy Edwards (Tasmania) 7/1
Blake Govers (Wollongong, NSW) 25/23
Mark Knowles (Rockhampton, QLD) 284/23
Eddie Ockenden (Hobart, Tasmania) 271/64
Simon Orchard (Maitland, NSW) 196/55
Aran Zalewski (Margaret River, WA) 86/10
Used Substitute
Matthew Gohdes (Rockhampton, QLD) 152/51
Jeremy Hayward (Darwin, NT) 53/17
Tyler Lovell (Perth, WA) 66/0
Trent Mitton (Perth, WA) 87/33
Flynn Ogilvie (Wollongong, NSW) 27/11
Andrew Philpott (Melbourne, VIC) 23/1
Tristan White (Wollongong, NSW) 75/3
Hockey Australia
