Australia and Pakistan both came into tonight’s preliminary hockey match undefeated and the desire to win was evident in all their faces.

From the outset it was Pakistan’s game. They came out attacking and their speed down the field had Australia chasing for much of the first half.

First points were on the board in the ninth minute, when Pakistan knocked a field goal into the net, just moments after a penalty corner was disallowed.

Australia had its first opportunity to equalise when a penalty corner was awarded but they were unable to sneak the ball past Adnan Shakoor, the Pakistani keeper.

Just over a minute later however, the Aussies were awarded another penalty and after a solid push from Daniel Beale, striker Rory Middleton was able to convert, putting Australia in the game.

A rough tackle turned into a green card for 16-year-old Jay Randhawa as tensions rose on the turf.

With just over six minutes remaining in the first half, Australia’s Robert Bell executed a text-book tackle that saved an impending Pakistani goal and changed the direction of the ball towards the Australian goal.

Team captain Daniel Beale capitalised on Australia’s change of fortune, grabbing a field goal to take the Aussies into the lead, 2-1.

Despite a valiant attempt at goal by the Pakistani team in the dying minutes, they were unable to close the gap.

The half-time break served the Aussies well and they came into the second half leading the game instead of chasing Pakistan’s lead.

Sixteen-year-old Daniel Mathiesen from Townsville kicked off the proceedings for Australia scoring a field goal in the 42nd minute.

The game was a physical clash for much of the second half with frustrations flaring and a series of penalty corners being awarded to both sides.

Oscar Wookey was successful in converting an Aussie penalty, bringing the green and gold toll to four. Teammate Middleton notched up his second point for the night, executing a sensational field goal in the 51st minute.

“It felt great to get those goals,” Middleton said. “I was lucky to snatch a couple of easy ones that I could just pop in off the post.”

Within seconds, Pakistan answered, with a quick run up the pitch resulting in an easy field goal to Muhammad Rizwan.

At the 59 minute mark, the crowd was on their feet as Pakistan came with centimetres of scoring a goal, swept up the field from beyond the half-way mark. The Aussies quickly recovered however, maintaining strong defence to hold their lead for the remaining 10 minutes of play, despite being a player down due to a yellow card bestowed upon midfielder Jake Farrell.

“It was a pretty hard, tough match,” Middleton said. “We played hard and ran hard all game.”

It was green and gold victory in the end, with Australia taking down Pakistan 5-2.

They now go into their final preliminary match against Chile as the only undefeated team in the tournament.

“We won’t be thinking about that,” Middleton said. “We’ll go into it like any other match and play hard.”

Alice Wheeler
AOC