Kookaburras Laugh All Way To Semis

Newcastle Herald

Thursday March 23, 2006

By EMMA QUAYLE

THERE were potential distractions

aplenty for the

Kookaburras last night.

Brent Livermore played

knowing that his wife will

deliver their second child

any day, and Bevan George

sat in the stands, celebrating

his birthday with a sore

throat and a stomach bug.

Then there was their

opponent, New Zealand,

which needed to beat the

Australians outright to follow

them into tomorrow?s semifinals.

Instead, it was the

Kookaburras who kept their

concentration and cemented

their spot at the top of their

pool.

The 5-2 win sent the Australians

into a semi-final

clash with Malaysia, which

they beat comfortably in two

warm-up matches early this

month. It also condemned

the New Zealanders to the

minor- place play-off , and

beckoned England back into

the medal chase.

The Malaysians had won

their way through earlier

yesterday, after posting a

huge losing score against

Pakistan. The 6-5 loss meant

Malaysia finished equal with

India on points and on goal

difference, but moved

through because it had

scored two more goals

throughout the tournament.

After a nil-all first half last

night, the New Zealanders

needed to find space to

score. They opened the

game up, but Australia

scored first. Gareth Brooks

then slotted an equaliser for

the Black Sticks, and the

game then opened up. Liam

De Young sat on the end of a

Michael McCann deflection

two minutes later, and Kiwi

teenager Simon Child levelled

the scores one more

minute on. A Luke Doerner

flick wrenched the lead back,

goals to Grant Schubert and

Jamie Dwyer settling the

score.

Livermore, whose wife

Belinda, is due to give birth

on goldmedal day, was satisfied

with his side?s first-half

patience, and confident it

was good preparation for

Malaysia, who play a similarly

defensive game. George

should be back for that

match.

``There?s a lot of trust and

belief in each other, trust in

our preparation, belief in

what we?re able to achieve

and in understanding different

situations,?? Livermore

said.

The Hockeyroos play

England in their semi-final

thismorning, four years after

they lost the same game, to

the same side, in Manchester.

The winner will move

through to the gold medal

match on Saturday.

HOCKEY

SEMI-FINALS

WOMEN TODAY

11am: Australia v England

5.30pm: New Zealand v India

MEN TOMORROW

11am: Australia v Malaysia

5.30pm: Pakistan v England

© 2006 Newcastle Herald

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