The Kookaburras returned to the winners list with a 3-0 win over Argentina at Perth Hockey Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Three-time World Player of the Year Jamie Dwyer showed why he is still highly regarded and tightly marked with Australia’s second goal which was then followed by some sublime stick skills to create the third.

His goal was a regulation tap in after Chris Ciriello’s penalty corner rebounded from the pads of Argentinean keeper Juan Espinosa who had already made some crucial saves for the visitors in the first half.

 But it was his stick work on the right side of the field with five minutes to go that gave the spectators something to remember.  Sandwiched between two defenders at the 23m line, Dwyer somehow managed to squeeze through and with a couple of sharp stick movements, brought the ball with him to open up play on the right side.

Queensland teammate Rob Hammond was the recipient, driving into the circle and despite missing his first attempt to square the ball, made better contact with the second from the baseline to find Glenn Turner who deflected past Espinosa.

 Earlier, Jason Wilson opened the scoring from a routine penalty corner flick in the 23rd minute to give the hosts a 1-0 lead at half time.

Australia moved the ball well through the midfield in the first half often finding space in behind the opposition defence but couldn’t convert these chances into goals with the Argentineans retreating quickly.

 Australia’s swift ball movement continued in the second with quick switches of play and despite plenty of circle penetrations, they could not find the space to shoot.  By contrast, the visitors relied heavily on overheads and long hits into a crowded circle in an attempt to deflect the ball towards goal.

Argentina’s best chance of the game came on 54 minutes when Ignacio Berger launched a long diagonal ball over the Australian defence.  Lucas Rossi did extremely well to bring the ball down after a slight deflection from the stick of Kiel Brown and his run into the circle was capped with a stinging ball across the Australian goal.

With Matias Vila closing in, goalkeeper Nathan Burgers ensured there was enough pressure on the Argentinean captain so that he could not make clean contact and his lunging attempt to score went just wide.

Dwyer doubled the advantage from just their third penalty corner of the game before Turner ended the game as a contest.  The win gives the Australian’s a 1-0 lead in the Four Test Series after the opener was drawn on Saturday.
Attention now turns to Sydney where the final two tests will be played next weekend.

Hockey Australia