Black Sticks strike late against Dutch
A dramatic last minute goal has earned the Black Sticks men’s hockey team a 1-1 draw against the Netherlands in the semifinal leg of the FIH World League.
Nick Haig blasted a penalty corner home to complete a dominant second half and share the competition points against the world No 2 team in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
After encouraging wins against Egypt and Japan at this crucial tournament, New Zealand lifted their performance level against the Dutch. They now share the lead of their pool with the Netherlands on seven points, followed by Korea on six.
The Black Sticks face Korea in their final pool game at 9am tomorrow before progressing to a must-win quarterfinal game on Friday.
The stakes are high with the top three finishers from the tournament automatically qualifying for the 2016 Rio Olympics, with the top four progressing to the World League Final in India in November.
Haig believes there is room for improvement ahead of their game against Korea, but was thrilled to have scored the equaliser against the Dutch.
‘‘It was nice to get the opportunity to tie it up, it’s a pretty cool feeling. I think we deserved that goal, it was a real team effort in the second half,’’ the 28-year-old from Canterbury said.
‘‘It was definitely our best performance so far, better than our Egypt and Japan game. We don’t fear the Dutch, we were hoping we could have the win but we are happy with the draw.
‘‘We have had players playing over in Holland for a number of years – we know the players well and their style. We are physical and athletic and we know we can match them. The message from Colin [Batch] at half time was to keep our share of possession and be more clinical on attack.’’
In the first quarter, the Dutch held the majority of possession and goalkeeper Devon Manchester made some great saves to keep the Black Sticks in the game.
In the 20th minute, the tournament’s top-ranked side broke the deadlock when Jeroen Hertzberger received a superb pass and with space in the circle he hit it on the angle past a diving Manchester and into the bottom corner of the goal.
The Black Sticks stepped up the intensity in the third quarter, pressing high and putting the Dutch defence under real pressure.
New Zealand continued their momentum in the final quarter. They had two thirds of possession and persistently mounted attacks to try to find the equaliser.
The chance finally came with 50 seconds remaining when they were awarded a penalty corner and under pressure, Haig flicked it to the back of the net.
With just seconds left to play, the Black Sticks called for a video referral which was upheld and they were awarded a second penalty corner. But Andy Hayward’s drag flick was well saved and the game ended in a draw.