Lausanne Feb 9 , The curtain came down on the Sydney leg of the FIH Hockey Pro League with two high-quality matches, but disappointment for the passionate home fans. In the men’s tournament, it was reigning Olympic gold medallists the Netherlands who got the better of current champions Australia, coming from three goals down to draw 4-4 before clinching a bonus point with a 3-1 shootout w
The opening quarter felt like a full 60 minutes of hockey with high-paced play ranging from end to end. There were a couple of early chances for both sides before Derck de Vilder put the Dutch ahead in the 7th minute.
The second quarter started much like the first, but things tightened in the middle of the period. Jeremy Hayward equalised for the Kookaburras with a 27th-minute drag flick, and Benjamin White scored his first international goal for Australia from a recycled penalty corner to take the hosts into half time with a 2-1 lead.
Both Australian goal scorers repeated their success in the third quarter, Hayward adding a 32nd-minute drag and White grabbing a field goal in the 36th. That saw the Kookaburras carrying a 4-1 lead and tremendous momentum through to the final period.
The Netherlands were in deep trouble, but they stepped up to deliver a thrilling finish. Pepijn van der Heijden started the fightback with a 47th-minute drag flick. The Dutch then put the Aussie goal under siege, shaving the post before Miles Bukkens scored from a recycled penalty corner in the 50th. A great save from Jed Snowden kept the Kookaburras ahead with just six minutes remaining, but the Dutch were at full steam and equalised with a 57th-minute Van der Heijden drag. Snowden made another excellent save in the final minute to take the match to a shootout, but Australia fell short for the second consecutive day. The Dutchmen leave Sydney with a slender lead at the top of a congested men’s table.
The player of the match was awarded to Pepijn van der Heijden who said, “It was a tough game. I mean, we started good. Then when it went a little bit south we didn’t do our own thing, we started to doubt a little bit. I think after the third quarter, in the fourth quarter we played really good.”
In the final women’s match Olympic silver medallists China got the better of Australia with a convincing 3-1 win to extend their clear lead at the top of the table.
Australia held the ascendancy throughout the opening quarter, creating some really good chances without success. It was then China who snatched the lead in the dying seconds as Yu Anhui knocked a floating ball out of the air on the right post.
The Chinese doubled their lead in the 17th minute with a penalty corner deflection by Hao Guoting from outside the right post. Li Hong added a third with a clever penalty corner variation to the second castle, working the ball back across the top of the circle to the injector for an easy finish. Penny Squibb pulled one back for the Hockeyroos with a drag flick a minute later and China led 3-1 at the break.
The Chinese earned a couple of penalty corners in a dominant third quarter, but Aleisha Power did great work in the Hockeyroos’ goal to keep her team in contention. Australia threatened more towards the end of the quarter, but the famous Chinese defensive structure was rock solid.
There was some possession for the Australians in the early stages of the final period, but they struggled to create genuine attacking chances against a tight Chinese unit. China assumed more and more control as the clock ran down, and they leave Sydney well clear at the top of the log.
Liu Chencheng was named China’s player of the match and said, “We did thorough analysis of the game, we prepared very well, so in the end we stayed calm, so we held the ball and took care of the ball until the end.”
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