Spain dominate Kookaburras in FIH Pro League
It was an instance of complete ‘Marcs’ as a support to Marc Reyne and also a late victor to Marc Miralles protected Spain a 4-2 loss of the Kookaburras in their FIH Pro League suit in Hobart.
On an evening when Cairns regional Jayden Atkinson came to be the 437th gamer to stand for the Kookaburras, it was not to be for the hosts in spite of the very best initiatives of goalkeeper Johan Durst and also protective colleagues Jake Harvie and also Jeremy Hayward.
An very early sighter on the tomahawk from Blake Govers revealed encouraging very early indicators however it was Spain that proceeded in the 11th min, transforming with their 4th fine edge from a failure that landed with Reyne at the back blog post.
The quarter finished with Lachlan Sharp gaining an established item possibility for Hayward prior to Jack Welch discharged an initiative over the top on his reverse stick.
After stopping working to transform one more established item early in the 2nd term, Spain place themselves in the motoring seat when Reyne scored his 2nd from in-front of the objective mouth.
The objective discharged the Kookaburras right into activity and also home town hero Josh Beltz damaged the Spanish protection open with a driving run and also help for Govers to touch house in the 21st min to make it 2-1.
But equally as the Kookaburras had actually functioned themselves back right into the competition, Spain renewed their two-goal padding when Jose Basterra discharged house on his opposite after Durst had actually conserved wonderfully from Bruno Font.
The Kookaburras looked for to examine the choice thinking the shot was drawn from the rear of Basterra’s stick, however the video clip umpire might not supply conclusive recommendations and also the objective stood.
Craig Marais fixed the deficiency back early in the 3rd quarter, scoring his very first global objective in simply his 7th look to establish a thrilling last verse.
With Harvie and also Durst proceeding their luster at the back, the Kookaburras appreciated extended periods of property and also drive numbers ahead looking for infiltration.
But a yellow card to Sharp late on salved their hopes of a fightback, with Miralles using the topping on Spain’s cake from a late fine edge, secs after Durst had actually been taken out as Australia chased after an outcome.
While dissatisfied at the result, Atkinson claimed it was an enjoy go out for the Kookaburras for the very first time.
“It was everything I dreamed of. The pace and intensity was what I expected and a bit more…unfortunately we didn’t get the result on the night, but hopefully we can use the rest day to look at how we can get better and beat Argentina on Friday.”
“We had a lot of opportunities in our attacking half…we were holding the ball well but struggling to get through Spain’s flooding defence at the back. We’ll review the game and look to improve.”
The Kookaburras have a day of rest tomorrow prior to returning on Friday to tackle Argentina at 5pm AEDT.
Match Details
Kookaburras 2 (Govers 21′, Marais 42′)
Spain 4 (Reyne 11’/ 19′, Basterra 25′, Miralles 59′)
@ Tasmanian Hockey Centre
Kookaburras: 1.Lachlan Sharp, 2.Tom Craig, 4.Jake Harvie, 6.Matthew Dawson, 8.Johan Durst (gk), 9.Jacob Anderson, 10.Josh Beltz, 11.Eddie Ockenden, 13.Blake Govers, 14.Dylan Martin, 15.Jayden Atkinson, 16.Tim Howard, 17.Aran Zalewski, 19.Craig Marais, 20.Ky Willott, 21.Jack Welch, 32.Jeremy Hayward (c)
Unused alternative: 18.Ben Rennie (gk)
