Kookaburras Defeat Spain in World League

The Kookaburras kicked their World League campaign into gear with a resounding 5-2 victory over Spain on Saturday, set up by a dominant set piece performances from the World Champions.

After the disappointment of an opening day defeat to Belgium, the Kookaburras took to the field with renewed vigour and made their mark with five different goal scorers finding the back of the net in a commanding win.

Penalty corners played a key part with Kieran Govers and Chris Ciriello both converting set pieces in the first half. A tremendous volley from Ed Tubau pulled one back for Spain, before a quick-fire five minutes saw Kiel Brown, Russell Ford and Rob Hammond all add their names to the score sheet. Gabriel Debanch’s last minute penalty corner goal was little more than consolation for Spain.

Kookaburras Head Coach Ric Charlesworth called it a “solid” performance after the match, adding, “Yesterday [against Belgium] was disappointing because we lost two goals from two attacks in the first half and when you do that you’re in trouble. Today, we scored three penalty corners, so that helped. Belgium’s goalkeeper yesterday made some brilliant saves and Spain’s goalkeeper did today, too, but we did enough.

“We always want to keep improving each game but the dilemma is that in these three pool games it’s a bit of a phony war because of the quarter-finals, which are the vital matches.”

The Kookaburras began brightly with Queenslander Jamie Dwyer flicking his well-controlled volley narrowly over the top in the opening stages. But it wasn’t long before the Australians were on the board through Kieran Govers. His low penalty corner flick found the net with the aid of a deflection off the foot of Spanish defender Bosco Perez to make it 1-0.

Australia survived a slight scare just prior to the half hour mark when a Spanish attack flashed across Andrew Charter’s goal before, at the other end, Matt Gohdes was expertly thwarted by the outstretched toe of the impressive Cortes in goal. The Kookaburras were not to be held back and Chris Ciriello found his range with a powerful penalty corner drag flick in the final minute of the first half to send his side in 2-0 up at the break.

There was little that goalkeeper Charter could have done to stop Ed Tubau’s perfect point blank volley from finding the roof of the net three minutes into the second half but AIS-WAIS athlete Kiel Brown restored Australia’s two goal cushion in the 45th minute. Eddie Ockenden’s shot on the turn from the top of the circle was aimed outside the post, where Brown appeared on cue to guide the ball home.

Russell Ford and Simon Orchard combined well for Australia’s fourth goal. Cutting in from a lung-bursting run down the left hand side, Ford squared the ball to the onrushing Orchard at the top of the circle. Despite being at full stretch, Orchard threw himself to return the pass to Ford, wrong footing the Spanish defence and leaving Ford with most of the goal at his mercy.

Completing a whirlwind five minutes, Rob Hammond made it 5-1 when he dived in to lift the ball over the goalkeeper, who was lying on the deck after initially stopping Matt Gohdes’ slapped penalty corner shot.

At 5-1 the match was over as a contest and Gabriel Debanch’s late flick low into the bottom left corner narrowed the score but was mere consolation for Spain.

The Kookaburras have a rest day on Sunday before returning to the field against France on Monday. That match takes place at 8:30pm AEST and can be seen live on www.hockey.org.au

Earlier:

The Kookaburras’ campaign for World Cup qualification got off to a difficult start in Rotterdam on Friday with a 3-1 defeat to Belgium in their opening match at the Rabobank Hockey World League.

An early goal from the high-flying Belgians put the Kookaburras on the back foot from the first minute and despite their superiority in possession, the Australian men found themselves 2-0 down at the break after Cedric Charlier added to Sebastien Dockier’s opener.

Russell Ford’s close range goal with seven minutes remaining looked to have given the Kookaburras a way back into the game but John-John Dohmen took the sting out of any such resurgence with a neat deflection to make it 3-1 moments later.

Kookaburras assistant coach Graham Reid said afterwards, “We just weren’t on our game enough today and against a quality team like Belgium you aren’t going to get away with that. We created enough chances in the first half and they came down our end twice and scored twice but we need more quality in the chances we create.

“From the first play we lost the ball and they came back at us. If you give away an early opportunity like that it makes it very difficult.”

Things began awkwardly with the Australians initially greeted by the national anthem of New Zealand and it did not get much better with Dockier getting the faintest of touches on a driven pass into the Kookaburras’ circle with just over 60 seconds on the clock.

Australia refused to let the goal panic them as they went about controlling the vast majority of the opening 35 minutes. Half chances notably fell to Jamie Dwyer and Glenn Simpson, from a penalty corner, but they could not find a way past Vincent Vanasch in the Belgian goal. And despite their superiority in possession, the Kookaburras found themselves 2-0 down at half time after Charlier’s close range goal midway through the half.

Chris Ciriello tested Vanasch with two penalty corner flicks in the second period but the goalkeeper was equal to the task on both occasions as Kookaburras players piled in for the rebounds.

When it came, Ford’s goal was laid on for him perfectly by five-times World Player of the Year Jamie Dwyer, whose flat tomahawk pass from the baseline left Victorian Ford with the simplest of finishes. With a little over five minutes remaining the goal gave the Kookaburras hope of a comeback but John-John Dohmen extinguished such hopes with a well-timed run and deflection at the near post to make it 3-1.

– Hockey Australia