KEY POINTS:
A hat-trick from Simon Child saw the New Zealand men's hockey team end their tour of European in style with a 4-2 win over Belgium in Holland today.
The scoreline arguably flattered Belgium because they scored from their only two penalties corners of the match.
The Belgians scored first, though, in the ninth minute before New Zealand's Hayden Shaw responded immediately.
The New Zealanders took the lead six minutes before halftime in slightly bizarre fashion.
Belgium tried to take a quick free hit while two balls were on the field.
Instead of passing to one of their own players, they passed it directly to Simon Child at the top of the circle and he buried it in the corner of the goal.
New Zealand totally dominated the second half, with Child adding his second goal when he deflected a super pass from Blair Hopping past the Belgium goalkeeper.
Child then completed his hat trick when a midfield turnover by Hopping released him for another great goal.
Belgium regained some respectability with a late penalty corner.
New Zealand had earlier beaten Canada 2-1 on the three-week tour after posting losses to Spain, Great Britain, Germany and Argentina.
RESULT:-
New Zealand 4 (Simon Child 3, Hayden Shaw) Belgium 2. Halftime: 2-1.
- NZPA
