Hockey: South Korea strike late to earn draw with Black Sticks

New Zealand's Hugo Inglis. Photo / Greg Bowker.

A late penalty corner goal for South Korea deprived New Zealand of victory in their final pool A game at the men's hockey World League semifinal in Buenos Aires today.

The 3-3 draw leaves the Black Sticks second in the group behind the Netherlands but well placed to press on into the knockout stage after wins over Egypt and Japan and draws against the world No 2 Dutch and the Koreans.

Korea were out of the blocks fast and led 2-0 at the end of the first quarter, through an own goal off defender Nick Haig and a second by Youngjin Kim.

The Black Sticks closed the gap with a fine solo goal from attacker Hugo Inglis and a second early in the third quarter from an opportunist deflection by veteran Phil Burrows.

New Zealand went ahead on the stroke of the end of that quarter with a well worked goal by captain Simon Child, after slick interpassing with the impressive Inglis.

However a sharp penalty corner with two minutes left from Hyunwoo Nam, his fourth of the tournament, earned the Koreans a point.

''We started a bit slowly in our first two games and today was a bit up and down," Inglis said.

''I don't think we've reached our peak yet so it's nice to build towards the quarter-final."
Who the Dutch and New Zealand meet in that stage will be determined later today.

Pool A standings: Netherlands 10 pts 1, New Zealand 8 2, Korea 7 3, Japan 3 4, Egypt 0 5.