Hockey: Germany down NZ 2-1 in Champions Trophy playoff

New Zealand ended their Champions Trophy hockey campaign with a 1-2 loss to Germany in Lahore, Pakistan today to leave the tournament winless.

German forward and man of the match Florian Keller struck twice in the second half to seal New Zealand's fate with his second goal in the 53rd minute winning the playoff for fifth and sixth place.

Bevan Hari scored a consolation goal with two minutes remaining to give New Zealand a slight hope of snatching a draw but ultimately it came too late for a tiring side.

The victory also guaranteed Germany entry into next year's tournament in India while New Zealand finished with two draws and three losses after playing their fifth game in nine days.

Keller's first goal came in the 42nd minute when he fired a hard shot just inside the circle past goalkeeper Paul Woolford who had little chance to stop the shot.

His second goal was unlucky for New Zealand as Keller's pass to his teammate inside the circle took a deflection from Wayne McIndoe's stick to dribble inside the goal.

New Zealand had few goal scoring chances in the second half until an unmarked Hari tapped the ball in after a charge from Phil Burrows saw the ball pop up close to the goal.

Both teams were scoreless after 34 minutes but New Zealand looked to have broken the stalemate just before halftime when Ryan Archibald threaded a long ball from halfway to Hari who then flicked inside for Darren Smith to guide the ball into the goal.

But the goal was disallowed after the Germans protested with replays suggesting the ball could have hit Smith's foot as both teams went into the sheds 0-0 at the break.

New Zealand dominated the early stages of the match as Germany rarely made any headway into New Zealand's half in the early stages but did have three penalty corners in quick succession with Woolford denying the Germans with two good saves.

New Zealand launched a series of counter attacks but failed to test the German keeper who was kept relatively redundant as New Zealand frequently conceded possession.

Their best chance came in the 29th minute with free hit outside the circle, but Germany pull their entire team into the circle as the shot deflected of a New Zealand player.

New Zealand up the ante in the closing five minutes of the half with the German defence opening up for Smith to convert New Zealand's best chance which was ultimately disallowed.

New Zealand coach Kevin Towns said the disallowed goal deflated the players and ultimately impacted their performance.

"When you score a goal then have it taken off you that's always difficult and that had an adverse affect on the team.

"The goal was disallowed because it hit Darren Smith's foot on the way through to the goal, but whether the foot played any part in the goal is the question.

Towns also criticised the standard of umpiring claiming the referee has had previous opportunities in other games to turn around goals but failed to do so.

"The umpires weren't up to scratch. I said to the technical delegate we got the worst two umpires we could possibly get.

"At the end of the day you can say it doesn't affect our result - you have to win games to be in the top five , but what makes me cross is that the top five teams plus India are here but none of the top umpires are here."

Score: Germany 2 (Florian Keller 42, 53) New Zealand 1 (Bevan Hari 68). Halftime: 0-0.

- NZPA