Great Britain stay in contention with victory over Black Sticks

Great Britain have their kept their hopes of
winning the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup alive with a much improved
performance against the tournament’s top side, New Zealand.
First half goals from East Grinstead’s Ashley
Jackson and Surbiton’s Matt Daly gave Great Britain a well deserved
2-1 victory over the Black Sticks, who had been unbeaten in their
first three games.  Kiwi penalty corner specialist Andrew
Hayward did pull a goal back in the second half, but it wasn’t
enough as Great Britain’s defence stood strong and they managed to
hold onto their goal advantage to take all three points.
Speaking after the game Great Britain’s Head Coach,
Jason Lee was delighted with his side’s performance, “It was a much
improved performance following the Argentina game where I had been
very disappointed.  I thought the players showed a lot of
spirit and we played some good tactics to win the game.”
Great Britain started brightly on another humid
evening in Malaysia, Wimbledon’s Ben Hawes with an early chance
which just sneaked over the crossbar following some good one-two
play with Reading’s Nick Catlin.  Moments later Surbiton’s Rob
Moore drove a ball across the goal, but there was no-one near to
finish and it was an easy save in the end for the Black Sticks
goalkeeper Kyle Pontifex.
New Zealand did not seem to be able to find their
rhythm in the opening minutes and Great Britain enjoyed most of the
possession early on.  Despite half chances for Reading’s Jonty
Clarke and Daly it took Great Britain 17 minutes to break through.
 Hawes and Clarke were again involved in the action with some
great build up play. Clarke found East Grinstead’s Ashley Jackson
who slotted home an easy finish past Pontifex for his fourth goal
of the tournament and Great Britain’s first of the game.
With eight minutes to go Surbiton’s Richard
Alexander won the ball from a Kiwi attack and a flowing move from
Great Britain ended in Daly’s first goal since coming back from a
long term knee injury which had seen him sidelined since the end of
2011.  Daly picked the ball up just outside the circle and
drove past one defender before drawing the keeper and deftly
pulling the ball back to slot it home into the right hand corner to
make it 2-0.
New Zealand created chances in the final 10 minutes
and were awarded the only penalty corner of the half, but Great
Britain defended well and went in with a two goal advantage.
With rainclouds gathering in Malaysia a storm was
looming as the players came out for the second half.  The
final 35 minutes was a far more even affair with chances for both
sides as the game opened up.
Old Loughtonians’ Harry Martin found himself in the
circle three times early on in the half but some good defending
made his attempts relatively unthreatening. New Zealand however did
start to build up their play and although they never looked
particularly dangerous in open play they earned themselves four
penalty corners during the half.
With 22 minutes to go Black Sticks penalty corner
specialist, Andrew Hayward, lined up to drive a clinical flick past
Cannock’s James Fair in goal to pull a goal back and make for an
interesting final quarter.
Great Britain deserved credit as they continued to
look calm and composed even as New Zealand pressed forward, waiting
patiently to build up their attacks.  Matt Daly and Reading’s
Iain Mackay both had chances that they failed to connect with.
 With five minutes to go Great Britain had two penalty corners
which saw Loughborough Students’ Richard Smith’s shot saved by
Pontifex and then Jackson, looking for a second, failed to connect
with the ball.
The final few minutes saw exciting end to end play
and several good attacks from Great Britain, Clarke and Jackson
again in the thick of it.  Despite several balls going
straight across the goal there were no Great Britain players in
range to finish and the score remained 2-1.
Lee was very happy with his team’s overall
performance, “I thought Matt Day played very well considering this
is only his third game back from a long term injury.  He
scored a very good individual goal and it is encouraging to see him
getting into the right positions.”
The result means that Great Britain have moved into
third place in the tournament standings.  The next match is
against Korea at 09:05 BST tomorrow.

Great Britain have their kept their hopes of winning the
Sultan Azlan Shah Cup alive with a much improved performance
against the tournament’s top side, New Zealand.

First half goals from East Grinstead’s Ashley Jackson and
Surbiton’s Matt Daly gave Great Britain a well deserved 2-1 victory
over the Black Sticks, who had been unbeaten in their first three
games.  Kiwi penalty corner specialist Andrew Hayward did pull
a goal back in the second half, but it wasn’t enough as Great
Britain’s defence stood strong and they managed to hold onto their
goal advantage to take all three points.

Speaking after the game Great Britain’s Head Coach, Jason Lee
was delighted with his side’s performance, “It was a much improved
performance following the Argentina game where I had been very
disappointed.  I thought the players showed a lot of spirit
and we played some good tactics to win the game.”

Great Britain started brightly on another humid evening in
Malaysia, Wimbledon’s Ben Hawes with an early chance which just
sneaked over the crossbar following some good one-two play with
Reading’s Nick Catlin.  Moments later Surbiton’s Rob Moore
drove a ball across the goal, but there was no-one near to finish
and it was an easy save in the end for the Black Sticks goalkeeper
Kyle Pontifex.

New Zealand did not seem to be able to find their rhythm in the
opening minutes and Great Britain enjoyed most of the possession
early on.  Despite half chances for Reading’s Jonty Clarke and
Daly it took Great Britain 17 minutes to break through.  Hawes
and Clarke were again involved in the action with some great build
up play. Clarke found East Grinstead’s Ashley Jackson who slotted
home an easy finish past Pontifex for his fourth goal of the
tournament and Great Britain’s first of the game.

With eight minutes to go Surbiton’s Richard Alexander won the
ball from a Kiwi attack and a flowing move from Great Britain ended
in Daly’s first goal since coming back from a long term knee injury
which had seen him sidelined since the end of 2011.  Daly
picked the ball up just outside the circle and drove past one
defender before drawing the keeper and deftly pulling the ball back
to slot it home into the right hand corner to make it 2-0

New Zealand created chances in the final 10 minutes and were
awarded the only penalty corner of the half, but Great Britain
defended well and went in with a two goal advantage.

With rainclouds gathering in Malaysia a storm was looming as the
players came out for the second half.  The final 35 minutes
was a far more even affair with chances for both sides as the game
opened up.

Old Loughtonians’ Harry Martin found himself in the circle three
times early on in the half but some good defending made his
attempts relatively unthreatening. New Zealand however did start to
build up their play and although they never looked particularly
dangerous in open play they earned themselves four penalty corners
during the half.

With 22 minutes to go Black Sticks penalty corner specialist,
Andrew Hayward, lined up to drive a clinical flick past Cannock’s
James Fair in goal to pull a goal back and make for an interesting
final quarter.

Great Britain deserved credit as they continued to look calm and
composed even as New Zealand pressed forward, waiting patiently to
build up their attacks.  Matt Daly and Reading’s Iain Mackay
both had chances that they failed to connect with.

With five minutes to go Great Britain had two penalty corners
which saw Loughborough Students’ Richard Smith’s shot saved by
Pontifex and then Jackson, looking for a second, failed to connect
with the ball.

The final few minutes saw exciting end to end play and several
good attacks from Great Britain, Clarke and Jackson again in the
thick of it.  Despite several balls going straight across the
goal there were no Great Britain players in range to finish and the
score remained 2-1.

Lee was very happy with his team’s overall performance, “I
thought Matt Day played very well considering this is only his
third game back from a long term injury.  He scored a very
good individual goal and it is encouraging to see him getting into
the right positions.”

The result means that Great Britain have moved into third place
in the tournament standings.  The next match is against Korea
at 09:05 BST tomorrow.

 

 

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