Great Britain beats New Zealand by 3-1 in Sultan Azlan Shah Cup - Hockey news
Great Britain played against the New Zealand Black Sticks men's squad in the 20th Sultan Azlan Shah underway in Ipoh, Malaysia on May 9. The match ended in favour of the British side with a 3-1 victory over New Zealand.
In the first half, the Black Sticks dominated the field with ball possession in the first five minutes. However, the British soon came into action when two strikers, Simon Mantell and Jonathan Clarke, exchanged passes and entered the 25-metre line of the
New Zealand defence. They were awarded a penalty corner in the 12th minute that was very well executed by Richard Mantell, opening scores for Great Britain at 1-0 on the 14th minute mark.
The British men continued to dominate the field thereon despite their troubles with the hot climate. In the 25th minute, Blair Hilton rushed into the defensive circle attempting a shot that went wide from the goal.
New Zealand responded with an immediate penalty corner award in the 26th minute but failed to create a hit towards the British goal.
In the closing minute, Great Britain missed a scoring chance when a pass could not be picked up by Glenn Kirkham. The first half concluded with Great Britain in the lead, 1-0.
In the second half, the British side continued to overpower the Black Sticks with complete game control. In the 40th minute, James Tindall makes an attempt to dive to deflecting the ball into the net but a timely save from Andrew stopped his hopes
of a goal.
With 45 minutes on the clock, Black Sticks received their third penalty corner award. A pass by Iain Mackay was thrown towards Richard Springham, who failed to connect to the ball with his stick and the ball was cleared.
Responding to the New Zealand attack, the British received their second penalty corner award in the 50th minute. This was very well attempted by Richard Mantell but was deflected. However, Jonathan Clarke made a move for a rebound and succeeded
in scoring a goal, advancing their lead to 2-0.
In the next five minutes, the British men were back in action in the Black Stick defensive circle when Richard Alexander scored a shot home, taking the lead to 3-0.
However, this time the Black Sticks gave a solid response with a goal delivered by Shay Neal in the 60th minute of the match.
Later, the match concluded with no more additions to the scoreboard and the match went in favour of the British team, who won by 3-1 over New Zealand.
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