Hockey: Black Sticks' chances go begging

By DAVID LEGGAT

The Black Sticks have to rediscover their penalty corner touch if they are to stay in the hunt for a strong performance in Athens.

They face Japan, winners of the final Olympic qualifying event at Auckland's Lloyd Elsmore Park in March, early tomorrow, realistically needing a win to keep their hopes of a top-four finish alive.

Their opening 2-0 loss against world No 4 China yesterday came as no surprise.

But it could have been different had the Black Sticks' work at the critical set piece, the penalty corner, had some bite.

They had five chances and, although they got shots on goal four times, came away empty-handed.

Coach Ian Rutledge isn't panicking and has faith that his players, with some fine tuning, will get more punch into their stickwork. "With all five we had clear shots, we just didn't execute the final bit," he said.

"Things are going okay, we just need to finish it a bit better."

Ninth-ranked New Zealand stuck to essentially their tried-and-tested tactic, which called for a trap and strong hit from striker Niniwa Roberts-Lang, their most effective hitter.

Their first attempt was mishandled by young defender Emily Naylor, acting as stopper, while a flurry of three in the last couple of minutes were successfully blocked by the Chinese defence.

New Zealand captain Suzie Muirhead said the team had about 20 options to use at penalty corners, but had chosen to use one that had been highly successful.

"It's frustrating," she said.

"If we had got that first one we would have been 1-0 up, which would have made life a lot easier. We'll look at the replays and see what we can do better."

Throw in a bad miss by midfielder Meredith Orr when she was unmarked right in front near the finish, and a paucity of clear chances in field play, and it was a disappointing opening outing.

China had 17 shots at goal to nine for New Zealand. But there was enough improvement in the second half to suggest the New Zealanders are capable of getting something tangible from tomorrow's game.

"Japan are a team we know we can play well against. I reckon there'll only be a goal in it," Rutledge added.

World No 11 Japan will be desperate. They have lost their first two games, 3-0 to China and 3-1 to Argentina.