Times of India: Knew game against Spain would be a grind: Matt Dawson

Feroz Khan

BHUBANESWAR: Australia defender Matt Dawson has said that the 4-1 win against Spain in the first quarter-finals of the Hockey World League Final on Wednesday, his team’s first of the ongoing tournament, was satisfying as they knew they will have to sweat hard for it.

“We always knew game against Spain is going to be a grind. Tough, hard fought first half. It was good to get some penalty corners late in the game. We had to stick to our processes and put in plans to execute our penalty corners. It’s good to get a win today, always pleasing to get some goals,” Dawson, who was chosen as the man-of-the-match, said after the Australia registered their first win in four matches after drawing the first three in the pool stage.

The 23-year-old expressed his disappointed that Hockey World League has been scraped for 2018 and will be back only late in 2019 but hopes he will get another chance to represent Kalinga Lancer as and when the tournament is back. “I am very disappointed that HIL won’t be back next year. Hopefully in 2019 I can come back and get to play in Bhubaneswar,” he said.

Talking about the semi-finals, Dawson said the team has the much-needed momentum with his win and will hope to carry it forward. “It’s going to be a tough semi-final no matter who we play there whether Germany or Holland. We are going to take some momentum after this victory. We didn’t win (in the league stage) but haven’t lost as well. It is always good to get a win,” he said.