Kookaburras Into Semi-final
Newcastle Herald
Monday August 23, 2004
ATHENS: Australia's kings of frayed nerves at the Olympics, the Kookaburras, secured a men's hockey semi-final berth with another thrilling win on Saturday.
This time the Kookaburras sneaked home with a 3-2 win over South Africa. In a pattern becoming as predictable as the hot weather, the Kookaburras fell behind early, fought back and took the lead, gave up an equaliser, then snatched a late winner. Once more it was midfielder Michael Brennan who scored the winning goal after his effort in the last 10 seconds to sink India 4-3 on Thursday. This time, Brennan and Australia broke the 2-2 deadlock 13 minutes into the second half, then allowed a South African team reduced to 10 men to get way too close for comfort. "We aren't always playing consistently enough. But one of the things that's shown through is a real team ethos," coach Barry Dancer said. SMH
© 2004 Newcastle Herald