ACT and NT win final group fixtures in U-21 Australian National Men’s Hockey Championship
Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory overwhelmed Tasmania and Victoria respectively by 6-3 and 2-1 in the final group clashes of the U-21 Australian National Men’s Hockey Championship, which is being held at the Perth Hockey Stadium on July
15, 2011.
In the first game, ACT made a revolutionary performance and trounced Tasmania by a three-goal margin, 6-3. There were only two names from ACT who exhibited splendid shows and managed all the scoring. However, all the players contested the fixture as a unit
and created chances for strikers through brilliant passing.
The ball mostly remained under the sticks of ACT's players in the seventy minute of play. They marked four goals, while conceded only one in the first half. From the very first minute of the match, the ACT men started testing the defence-line of Tasmania.
Jack Wallace was at his best and started the action from the very early minutes. He notched a couple of goals in the 3rd and 4th minutes and put ACT ahead on the score-board.
Rory Middleton though answered back with a single goal in the 5th minute, but to no avail. Richard Howson managed to take the ball at the top of the D-Line and marked a powerful shot into the goal. In the very next minute, Wallace scored another
goal from the field and expanded the lead up to three goals, 4-1.
Tasmania and ACT resumed the play in the same way as the first one. Howson scored his second goal of the day in the 40th minute and took an intractable advantage of four goals, 5-1. Billy Shaw and his team-mate, Dougal Middleton, though converted
a short-corner and penalty-stroke, respectively in the 47thand 49th minutes to reduce the lead, but to no avail. With five minutes remaining, Howson added another goal on penalty-conversion and won the game at 6-3.
In the other game of the day, Northern Territory (NT) edged past Victoria by solitary goal. The players from NT were strong enough to shake the defence line of Victoria in the seventy-minute of play.
After a brilliant passing, Tim Boteler got the ball under his stick and volleyed a scooping shot into the Victorian goal in the 4th minute of the match. The maiden goal increased the confidence of NT, which started back-to-back attacks against
the opponent side. Boteler scored his second goal of the game in the 17th minute. It was the overall action of the first half and Victoria was trailing by two goals.
The second half commenced with Victoria dominating the field, but it could only score one goal. Dam Seccull added a goal in the 59th minute, but it could not save them from the defeat. Northern Territory rode away the play-off round with 2-1 victory.
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