Hockey: Black Sticks need to sharpen up attack

Simon Child of New Zealand dives for the ball during the match against Canada yesterday. Jeff Brass / Getty Images

Canada 1
New Zealand 0

If the Black Sticks had ideas of a comfortable weekend's work in their doubleheader against Canada before heading to the Commonwealth Games, no one told the visitors.

Having bagged a 3-3 draw against their higher-ranked hosts on Saturday, the Canadians went one better with the win at Lloyd Elsmore Park yesterday.

The Canadians, world No 16 and seven places lower than New Zealand, were rewarded for a dogged, unfussy approach which wasn't pretty but was pretty effective.

It was just their second win in 10 matches since 2000 against the Black Sticks.

The teams meet again in the second round of pool play in Melbourne and New Zealand, if they didn't know beforehand, are now aware they need to sharpen their attacking work against a team who operated with plenty of bodies behind the ball.

The Black Sticks had more skill with their sticks, notably captain Ryan Archibald and strikers Phil Burrows and 17-year-old Simon Child.

But the order to build patiently from the back might have been overdone as the Canadians were often able to sit on their haunches as the ball was shovelled across rather than down the pitch.

The Canadians got into the game towards the end of the first half, in which they had three penalty corners to none. One was smartly saved by goalkeeper Kyle Pontifex; one threatened the windscreens in the car park and the third was netted illegally from close range by Paul Wettlaufer.

New Zealand had more urgency in the second half. Burrows got in a smart reverse slap shot which was blocked, before he earned the first penalty corner, Canadian keeper Michael Mahood blocking Hayden Shaw's high flick drive.

The decisive moment came five minutes from the end when, after soaking up a period of New Zealand pressure, Canada broke out.

The defence was caught short and Ravi Kahlon was left unmarked on the left in the circle and beat an exposed Pontifex for the winner.

There could have been a second for Kahlon after a defensive botchup left the strongly built attacker with a clear run to goal. But New Zealand got a break when he suddenly pulled up with a leg strain. Shaw had two further chances from penalty corners, but Mahood was up to the job.

Black Sticks coach Kevin Towns wasn't reaching for his worry beads at the outcome, but does have concerns that some of his players aren't fully attuned to the type of game he wants in Melbourne - and further ahead at the crucial World Cup qualifier in China shortly afterwards.

"We haven't got the intensity up yet," he said. "We've done it in spells but we haven't done it fully, and particularly when we don't have the ball.

"It will come, but I'm more worried about individuals being not quite with the game we're trying to play."

The Black sticks have one leadup game against Malaysia after they arrive in Melbourne and Towns will be hunting out one more opponent before the Games begin to help fine-tune preparations.