Black Sticks edged by Great Britain

The Vantage Black Sticks Men have been edged 3-2 by Great Britain in their final round robin match at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia.

It was an evenly poised encounter for much of the match before Great Britain got the better of the Kiwis in the second half.

The result sets New Zealand up for the bronze medal match against either Great Britain or India with results later in the day deciding the match-up.

Head coach Darren Smith said the difference was Great Britains finishing in the attacking circle.

"We werent as clinical as we needed to be in the midfield and attacking third and that really let us down," he said.

"We let in a couple of soft goals off counter attacks and struggling to get much going on attack.

"Were looking forward to going back up against either Great Britain or India as we have scores to settle with both teams."

Sam Ward opened the scoring for Great Britain in the ninth minute with a well-placed penalty corner drag flick.

The Black Sticks equalised just before halftime when striker Dominic Newman produced a flash of brilliance to find the ball in the circle and smash home on the dive.

Great Britain pulled ahead again in the second half through field goals from Phil Roper in the 39th minute and Mark Gleghorne in the 49th minute.

Kane Russell pulled one goal back with a penalty corner flick two minutes from fulltime but the Kiwis couldnt find a levelling goal.

The Vantage Black Sticks now await their opponent in the bronze match which will be played at 10pm tomorrow night (NZT) with live coverage on SKY Sport.

VANTAGE BLACK STICKS 2: (Dominic Newman, Kane Russell)

GREAT BRITAIN 3: (Sam Ward, Phil Roper, Mark Gleghorne)

Halftime: 1-1



- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Hockey NZ