Five in a Row for the Kookaburras
An extra time wonder strike from goal sneak Kieran Govers clinched the Kookaburras a 2-1 extra time victory over the Netherlands and with it a fifth consecutive Champions Trophy title.
With the match deadlocked at 1-1 after regular time it was Govers who kept his nerve with a reverse stick tomahawk to deliver a historic victory for the Kookaburras.
“It was about time, I don’t even know why I went on the reverse but I did and it paid off,” Govers said still shaking his head in disbelief at what was the best goal of his 69-cap career.
The record-breaking fifth consecutive Champions Trophy win was aided by AIS-WAIS hockey athletes Kiel Brown and Trent Mitton.
The Kookaburras had the better of the play for most of the day, continuing to pepper the Dutch goal only to be denied by goalkeeper Jaap Stockman who seemed destined to become the hero in a tense decider.
In a tight opening half goal opportunities were rare as both teams played defensive hockey.
But with 18 minutes on the clock it was the Netherlands who took a 1-0 advantage through a Sander Baartdrag flick penalty corner after the Kookaburras were forced to play a man down for two minutes when a Joel Carroll indiscretion led to a green card.
The game soon opened up as the Kookaburras searched for an equaliser and on 28 minutes the home side created their first real chance through a penalty corner.
Urged on by a capacity 5,500 strong crowd the home side continued to press hard and with five minutes remaining in the half forced a second penalty corner.
The effort looked to have been wasted when the Australian’s failed to trap the ball but the rebound found Govers who smartly flicked it to Russell Ford who found the back of the net to level the score at 1-1.
With less than a minute remaining in the half an Eddie Ockenden forced penalty corner gave the Kookaburras the chance to lead going into half time break. The resulting strike by Victorian Chris Ciriello cannoned into Netherlands captain Klaas Vermeulen and a penalty stroke was awarded right on half time.
Goal scoring machine Jamie Dwyer stepped up but his low shot was comfortably saved by star Dutch goal keeper Stockmann who continued his stellar form from earlier in the tournament.
The second half started much the same as the first ended with both teams pushing hard for a second goal.
The Kookaburras continued to pressure the Netherlands goal and it was Ford who had a chance to double his tally only for Stockmann to pull off another outstanding save to keep the score 1-1 with 18 minutes remaining.
Influential defender Mark Knowles took his turn to take on the impressive Stockmann and once again the Dutchman stayed true to form and slapped away a goal bound shot.
Only minutes later, Knowles was back in the action defending deep to keep out a Dutch counter attack that could have sent the victory the way of the visitors.
In a tense final few minutes neither side could find a winner and at full time the tournament decider was locked at 1-1 and was sent into extra time.
With the vocal crowd in full voice it was Gover’s goal five minutes into the first period of extra time that sent the full house into frenzy to give the Kookaburras a golden goal victory.
Kookaburras coach Graham Reid, who took the lead role for Australia at this tournament, believes the team’s defensive effort has been the difference.
“We have been working on it for the last two or three years and I think we are now starting to see some of that in our games so now we just need to start matching it in our attacking and our finishing,” a delighted Reid said after the match.
In the heat of the battle Reid was calm and collected and told his chargers the goal would come in extra time.
“Patience, persistence and things will come. We are making them work in defence and we just need to put them away.”
Reid was amazed by the winning goal, even more so by the fact that the Australians had managed to get one past the impenetrable Stockmann.
“I had to check the video to see what he did wrong because Govers had put it beautifully past him. It was just a great shot.”
Dutch coach Paul van Asspaid full credit to Australia and hailed his keepers performance who not surprisingly was award the goalkeeper of the tournament award.
“He is an extraordinary and a fantastic goalie and he kept us in the race and that is good and sometimes you can turn a game because of that but we couldn’t turn the game so Australia deserved to win,” van Ass said.
Earlier in the day Pakistanrecorded a historic 3-2 victory over arch rivals India to claim bronze and their first medal at a Champions Trophy since winning bronze in 2004.
In a high scoring match for fifth position Belgium held on in extra time to secure a 5-4 victory over Olympic champions Germany and gain the final automatic entry into the 2014 Champions Trophy in India. Germany stormed back into the match after trailing 0-3, but the Belgians held on.
The playoff for seventh position saw New Zealand striker Nickolas Wilson score a penalty corner in extra time on 77 minutes to defeat England 3-2.
Final Standings: 1st Australia, 2ndNetherlands, 3rd Pakistan, 4th India, 5thBelgium, 6th Germany, 7th New Zealand and 8thEngland.
– Hockey Australia