Failure to convert chances sees Black Sticks left to pack for home
The Black Sticks been knocked out of the men’s Hockey World Cup, going down to England 2-0.
Despite a number of scoring opportunities, the Black Sticks were unable to break through the English defence. England will now play Olympic champions Argentina in the quarterfinals while New Zealand are left to reflect on a misfiring campaign that produced one victory in four games.
New Zealand started the game holding the ball and looking to size up the England defence, creating chances which they failed to convert.
The Black Sticks started the second quarter strongly, looking to assert themselves at the offensive end. The English defence was resolute as they didn’t let the Black Sticks enter their circle. England absorbed the early pressure and then worked their way into the quarter where they held some good possession and were patient as they waited for opportunities to open up.
With five minutes to go in the second quarter, England’s Phil Roper found himself on the end of a well placed overhead and drove along the baseline, laying a ball back for Will Calnan to deflect it home. Despite a few opportunities the Black Sticks were unable to find an equaliser and went into the halftime break down 1-0.
The Black Sticks started to find their feet in the last few minutes of the third quarter when they had some deflections that were narrowly kept out of the goal to maintain England’s lead.
Just before the end of the third quarter England doubled the lead from a penalty corner. Their first shot came off the post but Luke Taylor trapped the rebound and swept it powerfully home past Richard Joyce.
The Black Sticks started the fourth quarter looking to get themselves back into the contest. Stephen Jenness and Nick Ross had great opportunities however England goalkeeper George Pinner managed to pull off some great saves.
With 10 minutes to go, the Black Sticks pulled their goalkeeper, creating an overlap in the hopes of scoring the needed two goals to tie the match up.
They conceded a penalty corner with no goalkeeper, but Cory Bennett ran out first as the field player with goalkeeping privileges and ran down the drag flick. England then looked to slow the game and, despite some great opportunities for the Black Sticks, they were unable to get on the board.