Korea snatch result over Vantage Black Sticks

Korea have secured a 2-1 come from behind victory over the Vantage Black Sticks at the Sentinel Homes Hockey World League Final in Auckland.

New Zealand mounted huge pressure on the Koreans throughout the first half but despite a raft of opportunities, couldnt find the finishing touches.

The Kiwis finally lit up the scoreboard in the 36th minute thanks to a great effort by Erin Goad with a full length dive onto a great ball through from Ella Gunson.

With the game looking all one way traffic for the Black Sticks, Korea mounted a stunning comeback and scored twice within the space of three minutes through Hyejin Cho and Seunga Park.

The hosts lifted the tempo over the dying five minutes as they hunted for an equalising goal but Korea hung tough in defence to take three tournament points.

Assistant coach Sean Dancer said it was frustrating to surrender the game after going ahead in the second half.

"Korea are a very tough team to break down in defence, which is the cornerstone of their game. We certainly created a lot of chances but unfortunately werent good enough to put them away tonight," he said.

"The disappointing thing for us was we had enough opportunities to win the game so to lose from the position we were in was not good and we need to be a lot better."

The Vantage Black Sticks have a rest day tomorrow ahead of their final pool match against USA at 8:00pm on Monday night (NZ time), with live coverage on SKY Sport.

Event tickets can be purchased along with a full rundown of transport information through www.ticketek.co.nz

VANTAGE BLACK STICKS: 1 (Erin Goad 36)

KOREA: 2 (Hyejin Cho 51, Seunga Park 53)

Halftime: 0-0



- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Hockey NZ