Govers leads way in 150th
Kookaburras forward Blake Govers celebrated his 150th international in style by scoring a goal in Australia’s 4-3 win over Spain to kickstart their Paris Olympic campaign.
The Kookaburras lost both FIH Pro League hockey matches to Spain last year but found redemption in a match that went down to the wire before Lachlan Sharp broke a 3-3 deadlock late in the final term on Monday.
Govers’ goal should have locked the match away for the Kookaburras, given it put them up 3-0 in their campaign opener in India.
But after opening their account before halftime, the Spaniards scored twice in the third term to tie the match heading into the final quarter before Sharp struck.
In their first performance in more than five months, the Kookaburras blew away the cobwebs in their tournament opener – the first of eight clashes against Spain, Ireland, India and The Netherlands.
The Hockeyroos will take on China, the US and India as they continue their FIH campaign.
They will be attempting to better their 50 per cent record from the opening four fixtures.
Govers brought up his 136th international score with trademark power to convert a penalty corner.
“The goal-to-game ratio keeps ticking along, but I feel like I should have had two or three more in there,” he said.
“Apart from the third quarter, where they scored two quick goals, I think we played a pretty dominant game.
“Spain had their Olympic qualifiers recently, so they are at the top of their game and we are just starting out, if you like.
“It was important for us to get that win and we are pretty happy overall.”