Australia beats Pakistan in FIH Champions Trophy

Following a controversial goal from Kieran Govers, Pakistan on Tuesday lost its group matches of the FIH Champions Trophy against Australia at Melbourne’s State Hockey Centre, in Melbourne, Australia.

The Kookaburras conquered Pakistan by 1-0 after giving them a tough fight. Pakistan players played well hockey during the match but conceded a goal in the second half. The host-team needed a two-goal margin to top the group, and Pakistan also had the chance to win the pool if they beat the Kookaburras.

But it became apparent early there would be no repeat of Australia’s 7-0 smashing of the Pakistanis at the London Olympics this year – Pakistan showing excellent defensive discipline in the first half.

They also had the better chances, hitting the post early in the second half before a costly brain snap from Shafqat Rasool changed the course of the match. His terrible tackle in an area he didn’t need to challenge resulted in a yellow card, and Australia’s first penalty corner of the match.

A weakness so far in the tournament for the Australians, Govers took full advantage for the Kookaburras’ first goal in nearly two hours of hockey.

Govers said the Australians’ struggles with penalty corners during the tournament had spurred him to work even harder on converting his drag flicks – and was thankful he finally got his second half chance.

He noted, “It was my personal goal – I worked on it yesterday at training because I was a bit disappointed not scoring against the Dutch. The main thing is get them on goal and make them make a save. It’s just one of those things. Luck can be with you on the day.”

In his view, it was good to get one under the belt and hopefully more will come in the coming days. The Australians played without key midfielder Simon Orchard because of a quadriceps injury.

After the match, Pakistan challenged the only goal scored by Australia claiming that the referee had given a yellow card and a penalty corner over a foul. Pakistan’s Hockey Team Head Coach Akhtar Rasool said that it was against the law to give two decisions over one foul and challenged the goal by Australia which was made using the penalty corner.

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Posted by Web Desk on Dec 4 2012. Filed under Pakistan, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.