Hockey: No medal, but Black Sticks find reason to be cheerful

By DAVID LEGGAT in Athens

When Auckland forward Lisa Walton pushed home the winning goal against Korea last night, pandemonium erupted among the Black Sticks at the Olympic hockey centre.

The goal gave New Zealand a 3-2 extra time win and they now play Australia in the playoff for fifth and sixth in the 10-team competition.

More importantly, it guaranteed New Zealand a trip to Buenos Aires for the Champions Trophy world top six tournament in November.

The deciding goal came when Kayla Sharland nudged a bouncing ball across the Korean goal for Walton to turn in from a couple of metres out.

Players collapsed in a pile, hugging each other in relief and delight, posed for pictures beside the pitch and generally let their hair down.

Walton had a personal reason for immense satisfaction at scoring the winner. She had fluffed an open chance in front of goal in the first half.

"When I missed that it would have been 3-0. They got up to 2-2 and I felt like I had to redeem myself, so why not do it in style," she said.

New Zealand were 2-0 up in eight minutes with goals from Niniwa Roberts-Lang (slapping home a penalty corner after clever work from forward Jaimee Provan) and captain Suzie Muirhead (a fine effort from broken play).

The Black Sticks had the better of the spell, but Korea bounced back with two goals in a minute soon after the break, one taking a deflection past outstanding goalkeeper Helen Clarke, the other down to sloppy defending and put in from a metre out by Kim Mi Seon.

Korea got stronger as the game wore on, but the Black Sticks found fresh legs. They play Australia tomorrow after Australia beat Japan 3-1 last night.