Holland beats Black Stick men in the first friendly match by 4-0
Holland’s men hockey team defeated the guest team from New Zealand by 4-0 in their first friendly match that was played at the Wagener Stadium in Amstelveen, Netherlands, on July 19.
Even though the Black Stick men came across many scoring opportunities in both the halves, but they failed to avail any of it.
In the opening minutes of the first half, New Zealand displayed a slow game and was overpowered by the host team in the first twenty minutes by conceding two goals at 0-2.
The first goal came from the striker, Rudolph Weusthof, who flicked a reverse shot into the net, whereas the second goal was shot by the penalty-expert, Taeke Taekema, in his fourth attempt.
In response to this attack, Black Stick men came into action and attempted to score through two field efforts and one penalty-corner, but unfortunately those were well saved by the host's goal-keeper. The first half closed with a 2-0 lead for the Dutchmen.
In the second half, New Zealand was on the front-foot with an aggressive approach, but failed to stop Holland from gaining lead. Both the teams received chances to score, but Billy Bakker from Holland led his team to the third goal with a penalty-corner
rebound.
With just eight minutes left in the game, the Dutch striker, Caspers, attempted a reverse-stick shot into the goal and increased the team’s lead to 4-0. The match concluded with no more additions from either side with Holland taking the victory.
According to New Zealand’s coach, Shane McLeod, "We created some excellent opportunities in both halves and I'm disappointed not to have converted at least one of our six penalty corner attempts.”
He added, “Holland is a good team and we enjoy the opportunity to play them, we also enjoy it when we put them under pressure and consistent pressure was hard to find from us today.”
Out of the six penalty-corners, five were awarded to Black Sticks in the second half with four field goal chances, but not a single was availed.
However, the losing team’s goal-keeper, Kyle Pontifex, showed a brilliant game by denying many penalty-corner conversions and goal attempts from the host side.
The next friendly match is to be played today at the same venue between the two teams.
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