Hockey: Injury worries for Towns as NZ chase fifth

1.00pm - By MARK GEENTY

ATHENS - Captain Simon Towns is prepared to miss the rest of the Olympic men's hockey tournament, so long as his New Zealand teammates book a top-six spot and a coveted end of year trip to join elite company in Lahore.

Towns limped off the Olympic Hockey Centre just before fulltime in New Zealand's 4-1 win over South Africa today, their third straight win but not quite enough to make the semifinals.

It placed them third in pool B behind the Netherlands and Australia, with the playoff for fifth beckoning which would gain New Zealand rare entry to the Champions Trophy in Pakistan later in the year.

First, the world's 11th-ranked men's team have to beat Korea early on Thursday (NZT) in the crossover match to set up a shot at fifth two days later.

In a bruising encounter, Towns twice plunged to the turf in pain after heavy challenges from the South Africans which struck him on either side of the left knee.

He said it would be touch and go whether he plays again here.

"It's really hard to say. If it's ligament damage it's going to be difficult. It's a matter of whether taping can keep it intact or not.

"As long as we win then I'll be fine. If we finish fifth and I get an opportunity to play at the Champions Trophy, if it means I have to miss these games to make it, then that's brilliant."

Towns has been one of New Zealand's standouts in the absence of injured key midfielder Ryan Archibald.

He was again heavily involved today as New Zealand dominated from the start, aside from a flat patch either side of halftime.

Penalty corner ace Hayden Shaw scored twice from the deadly drag flick from just three attempts, giving him six Olympic goals, while strikers Dave Kosoof and Phillip Burrows added the polish.

Burrows' goal was a magnificent solo effort right on the fulltime siren for his fourth of the tournament, when he dribbled the ball into the circle then rifled a shot through a needle-eye gap in the right corner.

In another solid defensive effort, goalkeeper Paul Woolford shone again with numerous saves in the second half to help deny South Africa any joy from 10 penalty corner attempts.

New Zealand have now scored nine goals from their last three matches and are one of the form sides of the tournament, so there was some frustration they weren't still in medal contention.

Simon Towns said the "what-ifs" had begun already, largely focused on the last minute 3-4 loss to the Netherlands from which they targeted at least a draw.

But Towns cast his mind back even further to the embarrassing 1-4 loss to Australia on day one.

"As much as it hurt in that (Dutch) game, our display in the first game was incredibly poor and even more disappointing.

"At least in the Dutch game we put it all out there, against Australia we didn't fire a shot.

"We've got ourselves to blame more because we didn't show up on the first day."

He said the side felt they were near the top of their game, after a flat leadup in recent months.

"At times today it was beautiful, they didn't get a touch on it. We should have really buried the game earlier, we're 3-4 goals better than that side every day, I reckon."

- NZPA