Times of India: Second successive draw for Australia in HWL Final nail-biter

Feroz Khan

BHUBANESWAR: Australia, Germany played out a nail-biting 2-2 draw in a Pool B match of the Hockey World League Final on Saturday. In a seesaw affair, Germany took the lead in the first quarter before Australia scored twice in the third quarter to go ahead.

But in the final minutes, four-time Olympic champion Germany equalised to climb at the top of Pool B with four points.

Australia were quicker off the blocks and created more chances in the opening minutes. The spirited moves, sometimes solo, began with a promise but they failed to break the German defence which seemed impregnable. Germany were happy to sit back but when they went on the offensive, rattled the defending champions.

It was during one such period when they capitalised through Marco Miltkau who found himself in front of the cage and accepted the easy chance, putting his team in lead at 1-0 in the seventh minute.

Australian captain Mark Knowles got a weak touch as he attempted to intercept a pass from the right flank near the edge of the D meant for Timur Oruz who then quickly took control and pushed it inside further where Miltkau did the rest.

The Germans were content to defend, holding on to their lead. They knew it was Australia who were playing catch-up. Australia tried their best to crash their defence barrier but failed on multiple occasions. Their attempts at penalty corners were thwarted by the rushers. On one instance Dylan Witherspoon did find the target, but alert German goalkeeper Mark Appel padded the ball away. Germany were frustrating the world no. 2 with a defence masterclass.

If only they had not committed mistakes of their own, the contest would have gone in their favour. They failed to convert all their penalty corners, one thanks to some resolute defending and others due to failed attempt at variations.

In the third quarter, Australia were pressing hard, minute after minute. And then in the 39th minute, got a penalty corner. They almost made a hash of it as drag-flicker Blake Govers missed the ball in his first attempt. He quickly got hold of the ball and found the equaliser.

And then Aaron Kleinschmidt scored an excellent field goal to put Australia ahead in the 49th minute. A searing pass from the right found a diving Kleinschmidt one-on-one with the goalie as he guided the ball in. From being a goal down in the first two quarters, Australia had taken control and the lead.

But as it turned out, it wasn’t the end. Germany were now playing catch up. With two minutes left on the clock, Germany won two successive penalty corners. They missed the first but Marin Haner converted the second to draw level.