Germany End Kookaburras’ Unbeaten Run

The stage was set for an exceptional encounter to end day four of the ABN AMRO Hockey Champions Trophy when the Kookaburras clashed with Germany at the State Netball Hockey Centre in Melbourne.

Australia pressed hard early on, with Kookaburras forward Des Abbott creating a number of goal scoring opportunities which came close but not close enough.

Despite Australia’s dominance early on, it was tournament scoring leader German Jan-Marco Montag who opened proceedings with his fifth goal of the tournament in the 24th minute, followed up by teammate Matthias Witthaus in the 27th.

Germany’s third goal in the 30th minute by Christopher Wesley set up a commanding lead as the teams entered the half time break.

When the second half got started it was imperative for the Kookaburras to get off to a good start but the turnovers continued to let them down.

It wasn’t until the 53rd minute that the Aussies were able to capitalise on their possessions thanks to an impressive penalty corner goal to defender Luke Doerner.

Despite Australia’s eagerness work their way back into the game, the tight German defence gave the Aussies little opportunity to score.

Several last-ditch efforts by the Aussies were fruitless and the Germans prevailed 3-1 in an impressive display.

German coach Markus Weise said that his team’s performance against a strong Australian line-up was commendable.

“The most pleasing thing about today was that the boys stuck to the game plan and they did this very consistently”, he said.

– Hockey Australia