Kookaburras Warm up with 3-1 Win Over Australia A
The Kookaburras have warmed up for the Kookaburra Challenge in Perth with a 3-1 win over a strong Australia A side.
Matt Gohdes opened the scoring for the Kookaburras on five minutes with a sharp shot from the top of the circle, with Russell Ford doubling the lead with a deflection into the roof of the net two minutes later.
The Australia A team, boasting the likes of 2004 Olympic Gold Medallists Liam de Young, Bevan George and Rob Hammond, held possession for long periods of the game but it was the Kookaburras swift counter attacks and crisp passing that proved to be the difference between the two teams.
After Jacob Whetton, Hammond, AIS-WAIS athlete Trent Mitton and Tom Wickham all had chances to pull a goal back for Australia A, it was Gohdes who doubled his account to make it 3-0 with three minutes to go.
Australia A finally got the goal they deserved through de Young a minute later but ran out of time to trouble the Kookaburras any further.
The series continues at Perth Hockey Stadium in Bentley on Friday night with Australia A taking on the Netherlands in the opener at 5pm, before the Kookaburras meet Argentina at 7pm.
Three penalty corner conversions by Mink van der Weerden led the Netherlands to a 7-4 triumph over Argentina in the opening match of the tri-nations Kookaburras Challenge on Wednesday night.
In the absence of normal penalty corner specialist Taeke Takema, van der Weerden was in clinical from set pieces in the first international match to be played on Lemnos Field’s blue turf in the western suburbs of Perth.
The Poligras Olympia surface is identical to the one that will be used later in the year at the London Olympic Games and was recently laid to mimic the conditions that the teams will face later in the year.
It wasn’t all one way running for the Dutch side though, with the South Americans launching a second half fight back after falling behind 4-1 at the break, only to be overrun in the final ten minutes.
Valentin Verga opened the scoring for the Dutch in the eighth minute before Pedro Ibarra responded three minutes later. Rogier Hofman was proving to be a difficult match up for the Argentineans during the first half as his running through the midfield launched several counter attacks that went unrewarded.
Two goals to van der Weerden either side of Robert Kempermon’s 24thminute strike gave the Netherlands the ascendency at the break with the second of his goals coming on the stroke of half-time.
A second penalty corner conversion by Ibarra midway through the second half was soon followed by Rodrigo Vila’s cheeky flick over the approaching Jaap Stockman in the Netherlands goal to wrest control of the game from the Dutch.
And despite van der Weerden’s third goal on 59 minutes, Lucas Cammareri reduced the deficit to a single goal again just a minute later with a neat deflection from a wide ball in.
But this is where the comeback finished with Billy Bakker capping off a good performance with a reverse stick shot from the top of the circle before Roderick Weusthof rounded out the scoring with three minutes to go.
The ninth-ranked Argentineans showed that they won’t be here to make up the numbers in the series with the number three ranked Dutch and top ranking Kookaburras teams, with the latter defeating a strong Australia A outfit in the early match.
– Hockey Australia
