Kookaburras Eye Final Flourish After Semi Stroll

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday March 25, 2006

Emma Quayle

Australia 6 Malaysia 0

THE AUSTRALIAN men's hockey team got together at the start of this year and settled on two goals.

The Kookaburras wanted to go to the World Cup in Germany, and remind everyone they are the best team around. But first, they wanted to go to Melbourne and win a third Commonwealth Games gold medal.

The World Cup is not until September, but tomorrow the Australians can tick the other box. They crushed Malaysia yesterday, posting five second-half goals and their largest score of the tournament to win their semi-final 6-0 and move into a gold medal play-off.

They head there with impetus, having played a more emphatic match than they did against New Zealand three days ago, and continued to build some calculated momentum.

"Every tournament we play, we want to keep improving and play our best in the last match," said coach Barry Dancer. "That's been the theme for some time. Certainly the feeling is that there's momentum out of today, towards the final.

"I think there's strength and confidence and the feeling that our game is coming together fairly well. I don't expect any complacency in two days' time."

Australia will also take some well-tested patience into tomorrow's match. The Malaysians stacked their defence full of strong bodies early yesterday, and tried to rattle the Kookaburras' balance.

Liam De Young got two early shots off, but it wasn't until the last five minutes of the first half that Jamie Dwyer burst into the circle and was up-ended, drawing the first of two penalty strokes that Brent Livermore completed for him.

Livermore, who flew home to the Gold Coast post-match for a quick visit with his just-born baby daughter, Zoe, scored for the second time six minutes into the second half. A long, spot-on Matthew Wells pass had found Michael McCann, who took the ball into the circle and held it for Dwyer, who this time was dumped by the Malaysian goalkeeper.

With Robbie Hammond finding more and more midfield space, and defenders Bevan George and Mark Knowles letting little past them, the Australians stretched their lead when Dwyer completed a penalty-corner combination, and drag flicker Luke Doerner found the bottom-left corner of the goals.

De Young swept through a fifth goal with four minutes left, and Doerner made sure the Australians notched their biggest goal tally, scoring off a third penalty stroke, earned this time by Nathan Eglington.

Stephen Mowlam also stood out, simply for playing a full game. The goalkeeper, who had swapped with Stephen Lambert at half-time of each previous match, would probably play out the final as well, said Dancer.

Dwyer said he had been untroubled by an injured thigh and was ready to ensure Australia achieve even more inside their circle in the gold-medal match.

"We had a lot of shots today and we didn't put any field goals away," he said. "Even though we got outcomes with corners and strokes, we can improve there."

© 2006 Sydney Morning Herald

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