Seasoned Ryan Archibald scored a late winner to help New Zealand beat Canada 3-2 in their opening match in the Hero Hondia FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup here on Monday.
Archibald put the finishing touch to a superb attack in the 67th minute as New /Zealand capatilised on sustained pressure to take 3-2 lead and open their account in Pool A. The experienced midfielder led the New Zealand attack superbly as they countered the Canadians who had stunned them by taking lead twice.
Just when it looked like the two teams will play the first draw of the tournament, Archibald made the difference with some individual brilliance after Nicholas Haig had restored parity for New Zealand, who were trailing 1-2 at halftime.
Canada got off to a good start and stunned New Zealand by going into lead in the first minute itself. Mark Pearson capitalizing on a defensive lapse by New Zealand to put Canada 1-0 up.
The Black Sticks, ranked 8th to Canada’s 11th, responded 10 minutes later when Priyesh Bhana made a good run into the shooting circle and scored off his second attempt. Bhana, a player of Indian origin came into the squad only last week after striker Simon Child withdrew from the tournament citing security concerns, had represented New Zealand in the Punjab Gold Cup at Chandigarh last year.
{{/usCountry}}The Black Sticks, ranked 8th to Canada’s 11th, responded 10 minutes later when Priyesh Bhana made a good run into the shooting circle and scored off his second attempt. Bhana, a player of Indian origin came into the squad only last week after striker Simon Child withdrew from the tournament citing security concerns, had represented New Zealand in the Punjab Gold Cup at Chandigarh last year.
{{/usCountry}}Just when it looked like New Zealand was taking control of the match, Philip Wright struck a brilliant goal to make it 2-1 in favour of Canada. Wright controlled a long ball from the defence and took a shot at the goal. It came off Blacks Sticks’ goalkeeper Kyle Pontifex.
Goalkeepers Pontifex of New Zealand and Dave Carter pulled off couple of good saves each.
Result:
New Zealand 3 (Priyesh Bhana 11th, Nicholas Haig 47th-pc, Ryan Archibald 67 th) beat Canada 2 (Mark Pearson 1st min, PhilipWright 20th min).