New Zealand overwhelm Belgium by 3-2 to ride into London Cup Finals
After showing some fantastic performances, the men’s Hockey team of New Zealand notched a 3-2 win over Belgium and booked a place in finals of the London Cup. The nail-biting contest between Belgium and the Black Sticks was held on July 13, 2011 at the University
of Westminster Sports Grounds, London.
Black Stick Coach, Shane McLeod, talking to the media stated that they have earned more opportunities as compared to the previous fixture; however, they would have to further hone their skills to avail all the chances. He said, “To win two out of two games
is really pleasing, but it was a lot closer than we would have liked. I’m happy that we created more scoring opportunities today, but we need to work on converting these into goals.”
Colin Batch, the Belgium Coach, while commenting over the situation stated that they have failed to prove their worth onto the field. He remarked, “It is our first tournament for some time and I think that was evident today. It was disappointing to finish
the way it did after getting back into it.”
It is vital to mention here that the London Cup is a Four-Nation invitational tournament playing in the England’s capital of London. The Black Sticks is featured with Korea, Belgium and the host England. The finals of the event will be played on July 17.
Though the Black Sticks succeeded to continue its winning-streak, it was a pretty difficult task. As per the comments of McLeod, the Black Sticks opened the game in quite an offensive way. However, the players from Belgium team were not less active from
their competitors and made equal penetrations at the start.
With three minutes into the game, Simon Child took the ball into the defensive circle of Belgium, but to no avail. It was not the Black Sticks, but Belgians who drew the first blood in the 10th minute of the match. Tom Boon converted a short-corner
through a striking drag-flick that moved smoothly into the goal.
The Black Sticks' midfielder improved their passing game and created a chance, when Stephen Jenness took a rebound and sent it to the Belgian goal in the 17th minute of the match. The equal scoring brought back the courage of New Zealand who started
more offensive style of play. Matt L'Huillier scored off a penalty-corner in the 32nd minute of the match and doubled the tally.
The play resumed in the second half with both teams working to go ahead in search of victory. After an end-to-end play, Tom Boon converted a short-corner in the 64th minute and tied the knots at 2-2. However, Nick Wilson managed a tie-breaking
goal from the field in the 68th minute and sealed the victory at 3-2.
The win also made the Black Sticks to the final of the tournament.
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