Second hockey loss

Press, 4 October 1985, Page 30

Second hockey loss

NZPA staff, correspondent London New Zealand went down, 1-3, to the Netherlands after trailing, 0-1, at half-time in a men’s hockey match at Amstelveen. A disappointed New Zealand coach, Mr Trevor Blake, said his team’s failure to capitalise on good scoring chances cost them any chance of winning the match, “played in ideal weather on a heavily watered astroturf surface. “We certainly played with a lot more purpose, but the Dutch made the most of their opportunities. We did

“Our midfield play was very good, but pur finishing was not as good as it should have been. “We missed the goal on three or four occasions when really we should have scored, and we failed oh about six penalty comers,” Mr Mr Blake said. The Netherlands opened the scoring in the fifteenth minute, when it scored from a penalty corner, and went 2-0 up in the forty-eighth minute.

Laurie Gallen pulled one back for New Zealand with a field goal in the sixtyfourth minute, 'but five minutes later the Dutch moved around the back of the New Zealand defence and scored again.

The loss followed a 4-1 drubbing by the Dutch club side, Kampong, after what Mr Blake said was a poor performance by New Zea-

Blake said he thought that at times, the team played better than it did when it beat West Germany 2-1 last weekend. It was just the attempts, at scoring that

were substandard, and that would be worked on before the two matches against England this weekend. “We’ve got to look at penalty corners especially, and see if we can get the boys to not be so tentative. It’s a problem with New Zealand teams — when they get into a scoring position they seem to hesitate.” Mr Blake said that although the loss was disappointing, it was important not to lose sight of the team’s target, the World Cup qualifying tournament in Spain, starting on October 11. New Zealand must finish in the top five at the tournament in Barcelona if it is to make next year’s World Cup in London. The coach said the Dutch losses had not dented his optimism about the team qualifying. “I think we played well enough ... not to be frightened by the prospect of Barcelona.” Tonight the New Zealanders play another Dutch club side, Hatten.