Gniezno, Poland – The Vantage Black Sticks Men continued their FIH Nations Cup campaign strongly with a dominant 3-0 win over Austria.
New Zealand controlled the game in the early stages, closing down and maintaining possession with some good exchanges.
Halfway through the first quarter, the NZ dominance was finally reflected in the score line as Isaac Houlbrooke squared an easy ball for Jonty Elmes to give them the lead.
A lacklustre 30 seconds towards the end of the first quarter almost cost them when they conceded a penalty corner, but Austria were not able to replicate their deadly penalty corner form from Friday where they scored 3 out of their 4.
The Black Sticks started the second quarter well and thought they had secured an early penalty corner, only for the video referee to say otherwise. Otherwise, there was not a lot of action near the circle despite New Zealand frustrating the Austrians with the ball.
The strategy to sit back and hit on the counter did not prove to be successful for Austria, who started energetically after the first half. They managed to keep the New Zealanders quiet until a deadly 90 seconds changed the fate of the game.
Elmes got his second of the day in what was almost a carbon copy of his first, with Hugo Inglis feeding him for his 6th goal in 8 appearances in black. The cherry on the cake came courtesy of Joe Morrison, who scored his first international goal like a seasoned pro.
The Black Sticks Men have a day off before they take on South Africa and then Korea in their final pool matches.
New Zealand
