FIELD HOCKEY – OLYMPICS –
The Coast’s Matt Dawson and the Australian Men’s Hockey team have advanced to the Gold Medal Final after a challenging run against the Netherlands and Germany.
The Kookaburras had topped Pool A in the group stage undefeated with four consecutive wins and a final draw.
Their final win was against New Zealand on Wednesday July 28, a game that was Dawson’s 150th for the nation, finishing 4-2.
The Kiwis did well after conceding early to quickly level out the game to 1-1.
That score was maintained until the 50th minute when Tim Brand put away his second of the game.
This opened the gates for two more fourth-quarter Australian goals for Blake Gover and Tom Wickam, with a second goal from the Black Sticks to finish off the match.
The team experienced a slight lull in form, starting with a 1-1 draw against Spain on Friday July 30.
Their Quarter Final encounter with the Netherlands on Sunday, August 1, was also even requiring penalties to decide the winner.
The Dutch came out with a lot of energy and nothing to lose after skimming into the finals from a fourth-place finish in Pool B.
Two penalty corners came for them within the first two minutes but Wickam ended up scoring a scrappy opener in the 13th minute.
More chances came for both sides in the remainder of the first half especially via penalty corners.
The Dutch equalised two minutes into the third quarter.
The net was finally found by Holland on their fifth corner attempt.
The lead was recovered by Gover six minutes later by pouncing on the loose possession of the opposition’s defence.
The 2-1 score remained until the 50th minute when a second equaliser came through a penalty stroke into the left corner.
Play dwindled over the final 10 minutes.
The Aussies had a couple of late opportunities for the Aussies but penalty strokes decided the victor.
Aussie Net Minder, Andrew Charter, proved his worth with three saves against three goals for Govers, Flynn Ogilvie and Brand.
The narrow win secured a semi-final clash with Germany, the team who beat the Netherlands in their Pool B match-up 3-1.
This time the Kookaburras had fun while on top and the final score was 3-1 Australia’s way.
The nervous results of the two previous games seemed out of mind when team opened its tally in the 7th minute with a sensational team goal involving a chip pass from Govers to Ogilvie and a final deflection from Brand on Ogilvie’s powerful diagonal strike.
The Germans were not easily undone, hitting back quickly with a 10th minute penalty corner goal to re-establish a tie.
Govers again found the net 17 minutes later from a penalty corner goal driven low and hard.
The Germans were forced to chase the match against one of the competition’s most effective defences centred by Dawson.
The German’s blitzed the final quarter to no avail, posting many shots before a final minute counter-attack was put away by Thomas Lachlan for Australia.
The win gave Dawson and the Aussies a shot at Olympic Gold for the first time since Athens 2004.
The Gold Medal Match will be played against Belgium on Thursday.
Belgium defeated India in the second semi-final 5-2.
CCN