Another hockey draw

Press, 22 July 1976, Page 14

Another hockey draw

By MAX LAMBERT, NZPA staff correspondent “We want a goal, we want a goal.” That refrain, chanted by a group of New Zealanders at Molson Stadium yesterday, seems to be the story of New Zealand in Olympic hockey at Montreal as it was at Munich four years ago. The team looks good, plays well, defends well but cannot seem to score the vital goals that win matches. New Zealand scored one : again yesterday but it only i pulled the Kiwis into a tie with Spain and the match , ended in a 1-1 draw, the ] identical score in the New . Zealand-West Germany I match on Sunday. 1 The forward, Ramesh Patel, brought on halfway through 1 the second half, scored the i New Zealand goal from a : penalty storke as he did : in Sunday’s match. The coach (Mr Ross Gil- I lespie) rushed Patel into the attack despite a severely ; sprained, if not broken, left

thumb. The New Zealander played with metal supports on the thumb but he was still in considerable pain.

Gillespie said after the match he would not have played Patel normally but “we had to have a draw and we had to have a goal.” The coach’s move paid dividends for it was only a couple of minutes after Patel came on that he was called upon to play the penalty stroke.

The goalie faced Patel alone and the New Zealander flicked the ball past him into the net.

Spain scored a first half goal from one of the two penalty comers it was given. Juan Amat slammed in the ball to put Spain into the lead.

Pakistan leads the B pool with three points from two games. New Zealand and Spain each have two points from their two matches.

Germany and Belgium have had only one game each.

New Zealand meets Belgium, beaten 5-0 by Pakistan. today in another vital en-

counter. The Kiwis need a win badly and a win by a big score because goals could be important later in deciding which of the two pool B teams advance to the final.

The Netherlands, 3-1 conquerors of the World Cup holders, India, on Tuesday, won again yesterday, defeating Malaysia 2-0. Their victory takes them into joint first place in Group A with Australia. Both have the maximum four points from two games. Their victory was revenge for their defeat by Malaysia in the World Cup last year. They have now won seven out of eight matches against the Asian team and. in fact, it was the seventh time that Malaysia has failed to score against the Dutch. The hosts, Canada, created an upset by defeating Argentina, their conquerors at the Pan American Games final last year, 3-1. It was only Canada’s second hockey victory and the first occasion they had found the net three times in an Olympic match.