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FIH Pro League: Mixed Day for Black Sticks

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Saizel S
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FIH Pro League: Mixed Day for Black Sticks
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FIH Pro League: Mixed Day for Black Sticks FIH Pro League: Mixed day for New Zealand’s Black Sticks against  Great Britain in Christchurch On a day of mixed fortunes, the hosts, Black Sticks, had the consolation of scoring first hat trick of goal in women’s section of the FIH Pro League while the men’s team conceded three in a row to a British player on the seventh day of the competition on Friday. The win for Kiwi women was all the more credible as Britons are Olympic champions. As the action moved to Christchurch in New Zealand, the hosts women’s team recorded a fluent 5-1 win over the visiting Great Britain hockey team. In the men’s section, however, Great Britain recoded an equally flattering 6-2 win over the hosts.
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Also Read: Gold Coast 2018: Overseas sports of Indian origin do well in Commonwealth Games FIH Pro League FIH Pro League: Mixed Day for Black Sticks Ace striker Sam Ward became the first player to register a hat-trick in the FIH Pro League as Great Britain’s men stormed to a 6-2 victory over the home favourites, while Olivia Merry matched Ward’s feat by scoring three times for the Black Sticks women who recorded a fine 5-1 triumph over Great Britain’s women, the reigning Olympic champions. The opening match of the day at the Nga Puna Wai Hockey Stadium in Christchurch - a city hosting  its  first international hockey match in eight years - featured the New Zealand (FIH World Ranking: 8) and Great Britain (WR:7) men’s teams in action. A sell-out crowd at the sparkling new facility was treated to three goals in the first half, however none went the way of the host nation as the visitors from Europe established a commanding 3-0 lead at half time. All three goals arrived in the second quarter, with Sam Ward, Phil Roper and Adam Dixon - recently named as the new Great Britain captain by Head Coach Danny Kerry - finding the target with well executed penalty corner routines. FIH Pro League: Mixed Day for Black Sticks FIH Pro League: Mixed Day for Black Sticks While the Black Sticks had overturned deficits in their two previous FIH Pro League matches, fighting back from 0-3 and 2-4 against Netherlands and Belgium respectively, their chances of producing a comeback in this meeting were considerably reduced when Ward netted his second from close range early in the third quarter. Ward was heavily involved in Great Britain’s fifth goal, showing excellent 3D skills before providing the simplest of finishes for Player of the Match Phil Roper to score his second.
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Also Read: Queen inaugurates new 'best of British' aircraft carrier Just as it seemed the result was all but settled, strikes from Nic Woods, on his 100th senior international appearance, and Hugo Inglis took the score to 5-2 and gave the hosts optimism going into the final quarter. However, any potential momentum gathered was brought to a grinding halt when Sam Ward completed his hat-trick with a tap-in, giving Great Britain a fine 6-2 victory on the road. The result leaves GB’s men sitting top of the FIH Pro League standings thanks to a 100 percent win record, adding to last month’s victory over Spain in Valencia. “We are obviously delighted, it has been a long week with lots of training sessions and getting over a bit of jet-lag, but it is nice to come here and pick up those points”, said Great Britain captain Adam Dixon. “It’s pretty difficult to come away on the road, and to get this Pro League campaign underway with two victories is all that we could ask for, really.” Also Read: FIH Pro League: Belgium’s women steal the headlines against Black Sticks New Zealand captain Blair Tarrant’s assessment of the match was to the point, saying: “It’s extremely disappointing in front of a good home crowd. It wasn’t good enough from us today.” The women’s fixture between New Zealand (WR:6) and Great Britain (WR:2) was notable for numerous reasons, with Head Coach Mark Hager taking charge of GB for the first time since recently ending a hugely successful ten-year stint as Head Coach of the Black Sticks women. New Zealand came into the match on the back of two defeats, so were determined to bounce back against a Great Britain team that were making their FIH Pro League debut and had beaten them in the semi-finals of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games en-route to winning gold. In terms of possession and shots, Great Britain dominated the opening two quarters but found  themselves  trailing 2-1 to the host nation, who suffered a late withdrawal from star midfielder and FIH Player of the Year 2018 nominee Stacey Michelsen through injury. Olivia Merry’s fifth minute strike gave the Black Sticks a perfect start, getting the vital touch on a fine pass from Kelsey Smith before Giselle Ansley restored parity with a penalty stroke before the end of the first quarter. Ella Gunson marked her 199th appearance for New Zealand with a well-taken penalty corner in the second quarter, giving the Black Sticks a 2-1 advantage over the Olympic champions at half time. It got even better for the Black Sticks after the break, with Olivia Merry scoring two stunning strikes - one from open play, one from a penalty corner - to become the first player to score a hat-trick in the women’s FIH Pro League to established  a commanding 4-1 lead. A fifth goal arrived in the final minutes of the contest, with Amy Robinson producing a superb deflection to chip the goalkeeper and give New Zealand their first win of the competition. “The goal-scoring has been a massive focus in the past couple of weeks as we obviously haven’t been putting the goals in the back of the net, so it was pretty pleasing to come out here today and do that”, said Player of the Match Olivia Merry. “It’s pleasing, but there is still a lot of work to be done.” Also Read: Ponting named Australia assistant coach for T20s Great Britain captain Hollie  Pearne-Webb said: “We need to look at what we need to improve on for our next game , so that is a big focus. We are kind of starting afresh at the moment, so this is our baseline. The only way is up, hopefully.” Result: Men’s Match 8 New Zealand 2, Great Britain 6 Player of the Match: Phil Roper (GBR) Result: Women’s Match 7 New Zealand 5, Great Britain 1 Player of the Match: Olivia Merry (NZL)-
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