Hockey: Error-prone NZ take little joy from scratchy victory

Anyone expecting New Zealand coach Kevin Towns to be a happy man after his team's 4-1 over Canada in their opening men's international in Palmerston North was in for a surprise.

Despite a hat-trick from penalty corner specialist Hayden Shaw it was still a scratchy way to start the five-game series. The final scoreline was not an accurate reflection of play.

They were guilty of too many unforced turnovers, mostly through wayward passing, and as far as Towns was concerned there was plenty of soul searching to do before the second test in Napier tomorrow.

"It was a pretty disappointing game from us," he said. "I'm not taking anything away from Canada but it's been a long time since we played that badly."

Although Canada are ranked only 17th in the world - nine places behind New Zealand, whom they have never beaten - they dominated possession and territory. The deeds of fullback Shaw aside, the New Zealanders could also be thankful that goalkeeper Paul Woolford was in top form as the Aucklander pulled off several spectacular saves from broken play and penalty corners. Canada were awarded six penalty corners to New Zealand's four.

Ahead 2-1 at halftime, New Zealand failed to fire early in the second half, allowing the Canadians to dominate. When New Zealand were awarded a penalty corner in the 60th minute, Shaw didn't disappoint, firing home the shot to give his side a two-goal buffer.

Four minutes later it was Canada who were applying all the pressure once again when they were awarded two penalty corners in almost as many minutes.

Woolford was up to the challenge, with his second stop being a spectacular diving save.

In the final minute, Shaw put the result beyond doubt when he slotted home his final penalty corner.

New Zealand forward Phillip Burrows opened the scoring, slotting a field goal in the 10th minute after a sustained attack.

Canada began nervously, needlessly turning over the ball with several long-range passes going straight out of play. They mounted several attacks in the final 10 minutes of the first half and captain Rob Short capitalised with a field goal in the 25th minute.

Several New Zealanders proved their class. Veteran Umesh Parag worked tirelessly up front along with Bevan Hari while defender Dion Gosling was named player of the day.

Canada's best were forwards Short and Connor Grimes and midfielder Wayne Fernandes.

- NZPA