Hockey: Shaw launched as dangerous scoring talent

By DAVID LEGGAT

Far from being down in the dumps after losing the final yesterday, the men's hockey team had several reasons for satisfaction.

They went down 5-2 to defending champions Australia, and could have no complaints at the outcome.

However, apart from the element of natural dejection which defeat brings, New Zealand can look towards the 2004 Olympic Games with some confidence.

Not only did they exceed expectations, which were for a bronze medal as the fourth seeds here, but they have discovered how well they can play and have uncovered a penalty corner-taker of real class in Hayden Shaw.

Shaw, a 21-year-old Christchurch student, was the star turn for New Zealand, clattering in 13 goals to finish the tournament as the top individual scorer.

Shaw gave an impressive "aw, shucks" routine when assessing his own contribution.

"It's the boys getting the corners; I just have to put them away." he said.

But having a penalty corner-taker to be feared is something which has been missing in the men's team for some time.

"Now others have something to be worried about.

"That's the bonus we've got out of the tournament," Shaw added.

In their opening pool game, New Zealand were tonked 6-1 by the Australians, a slick, classy outfit not given to wasting opportunities.

And again yesterday, with Prince Edward looking on, Australia began like a runaway express train.

Had it not been for outstanding work by Auckland goalkeeper Paul Woolford, Australia would have been out of sight by halftime.

He pulled off a string of brilliant saves from Australian dangermen Troy Elder, Craig Victory and Michael McCann, but even so the Australians were 4-0 up at the break, through goals from Elder, Jamie Dwyer (twice) and Craig Victory.

A fine solo effort nine minutes after the resumption from striker Philip Burrows lifted New Zealand's spirits, and for a time they looked decidedly threatening.

However, the loss of Ryan Archibald to the sinbin proved decisive.

Dwyer's free shot from close range 10 minutes from the end - with New Zealand still down to 10 men - made certain of the win.

However, there was still time for Shaw to knock in a penalty stroke for New Zealand, after striker Umesh Parag was bundled off the ball.

And later Darren Smith deflected a shot over the Australian goal, and Shaw twice whipped penalty corners wide as New Zealand finished with a flourish.

Shaw dropped into you-know-who mode with a "full credit to the boys" line about fighting back in the second half.

And he was right.

The easy option might have been to lie down, and take New Zealand's stunning 7-1 win against Pakistan in Friday's semifinal as proof that there is something to build on in the next year.

Instead, there was sufficient spirit and resolve in the second half yesterday - not to mention outscoring Australia 2-1 - to back up the belief that they have found the recipe to make an impact in Athens.

"It's a long way away, but we're aiming for a medal there," Shaw said.

Considering the men came to Manchester the lesser of the two New Zealand teams in terms of medal prospects - the women finished fourth - they can go down as one of the surprise packages of the national squad here.

As one of the players accurately put in to his team-mates in the dugout after the final whistle: "Get your heads up boys; we've had a bloody good tournament."

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