Gotta say things take time when our Hockeyroos and Kookaburras team didn’t enjoy a great start to the Antwerp mini-tournament in Belgium off the back of some last minute heartbreaks and unfortunate difficult beating. But glad they both have snatched a win last night against the respective Belgian teams at the second attempt. For the women, things were quiet where not only they defended well including a couple of saves from the keeper Jocelyn Bartram; but they also managed to close them out thanks to the one and only late goal (47th min) from Penny Squibb. The final score was 1-0.
Then in the men, we got another tug-o-war contest but this time it was a high scoring affair. Kookaburras know how to get the ball rolling as we’ve seen in the last couple of games with the early 1-0 lead. Yes, the Argentineans might have dominated the pitch for the majority when they were 2-1 up at half-time. But the Aussie men never gave up through the end of the final whistle having enjoyed a really wild last 15 minutes from equalising them 2-2 to Argentina bouncing back 3-2 and finally, they have somehow found a way to close it out at the last minute thanks to Blake Govers. The final score was 3-4.
Glad both teams used the rest day well to regroup themselves what they’ve picked up with the pros and cons & putting up with the full hour effort is the way to go. Let’s hope they can show Belgium once more (back-to-back games with the women and men’s teams against each other) that they’re a completely different but better side going into the final’s day action later tonight and going into overnight Monday. If they can get the job done, sure they will be able to close things out on a high note for their Pro League campaign next week in London against the likes of Germany and Great Britain ahead of the Olympics in August.
