Black Sticks record strong win over India

The Black Sticks Men have put together a strong performance to defeat India 1-0 at the Six Nations tournament in Valencia.

Striker Stephen Jenness was the man of the moment with his 18th minute field goal proving the winning blow in a tight contest.

Its the first win at the tournament for the Black Sticks, and an impressive one against the worlds fifth ranked side who are fresh off a silver medal performance at the Hockey Champions Trophy.

Head coach Colin Batch said it was good to shake off earlier results and put together a strong team effort.

"Overall its a pleasing performance for us and shows our maturity in rebounding from a few tough losses earlier in the tournament," he said.

"Both teams had a few corners, but we outplayed India in the field today and showed some really good signs in terms of our development.

"Were a resilient team and we will take away this win and look to keep our momentum going in our next game against Ireland."

The Black Sticks showed determination and composure from the opening whistle and played with intensity in the attacking half against the Indians.

A nice passage of play early in the second quarter saw the ball passed to Jenness in front of goal who got a quick touch to send the ball around goalkeeper Vikas Dahiya and into the cage.

Leading by one goal at halftime, New Zealand defended strongly throughout the second half and held much of the possession.

India created some dangerous scoring chances in the fourth quarter as they hunted for an equaliser but the Kiwis were too strong on defence.

The Black Sticks have a rest day tomorrow with their next clash against Ireland at 8pm tomorrow night (NZ time), with live streaming at www.hockeynz.co.nz/Video

BLACK STICKS 1: (Stephen Jenness)

INDIA 0

Halftime: Black Sticks 1-0



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