Confidence key today

THERE are no more second chances for the Black Sticks in Cromwell.

After a week of roundrobin play, the side plays its playoff game against Japan today.

The winner advances to face top qualifier Australia in tomorrow’s Women’s Tri Nations final.

Japan takes form into the game, having beaten Australia 10 on Thursday in the Hockeyroos’ first loss of the tournament.

However, the Black Sticks can take confidence from Tuesday’s 41 win over Japan, avenging the 21 loss in the tournament opener.

Standin captain Ella Gunson said the team had identified what was different about the two performances.

‘‘We’ve reviewed all of our games and it was really good.

‘‘We were able to compare the loss and the win and how we played, different things we did and what worked.

‘‘That was really good.

‘‘We’re definitely going to try and take in a lot of aggression and play with urgency.

‘‘Everything we do, we want to do it with a purpose rather than secondguessing things and being hesitant.’’

One win from four games had not been the best return so far, although the focus had been on building.

It was not the same team that won gold at the Commonwealth Games and its main focus was on learning and improving.

Several new players had come into the team and benefited from the game time, while the team had also tried some different things.

That said, today’s game is a big

one and the team is excited.

It would concentrate on ensuring its defensive structures remained tight, while also looking to execute better to convert its chances on attack.

While it was not the ideal path to take, Gunson said there were still plenty of benefits in getting to play today’s playoff match.

‘‘Not qualifying for the final straight away — that was a bit of a letdown — but it’s also really good because now we’ve set ourselves up to play a semifinal.

‘‘So it’s like we’re at a tournament, a mustwin game.

‘‘That’s a really good challenge and really good practice for us for future tournaments.’’

She said the team had loved its time in Cromwell so far and while the cold took a bit of getting used to, it did not make too much difference.

Confidence brought out the best in the team and Gunson said it was key the team went in with that belief.

‘‘That’s what we’ve got to take into the game, we’ve got to take a bit of confidence, without being over the top.

‘‘We just have to make sure everything we do, we do with that confidence because when we play like that we play really well.

‘‘We’re offering up passes for each other, we’re running really hard off the ball and that’s when we play our best hockey.’’

The game begins at 4.30pm today, and the winner will play Australia in tomorrow’s final at 2.30pm.