Black Sticks Men unbeaten in pool play
- Dave Worsley
- 4 minutes ago
- 2 min read
The Black Sticks Men's team have swept through pool play at the FIH Nations Cup in Malaysia after a 4-3 win over Pakistan.
They will now meet Korea, who finished second in the other pool in the semifinals.
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The first penalty corner of the game was presented to the Blacksticks in the seventh minute and Nic Woods forced a drag-flick through the left-post defender to kickstart the scoring.
Pakistan them built momentum as Abdul Rehman equalised from a drag-flick into the top right of the New Zealand net with trow minutes remaining in the quarter.net. Just 60 seconds later they scored again pouncing on a mishit.
The second quarter was less eventful until, just before half-time, Pakistan won the ball in the New Zealand half and surged forward. Waheed Ashraf Rana scored his third of the tournament, nipping the ball over the line as Rehman had done and making it 3-1.
The second half began with Blackstick chances, as six penalty corners ultimately resulted in a mechanical Scott Cosslett delivering two superbly similar drag-flicks into the bottom left corner.
With scores level in the final quarter, Cosslett completed his hat-trick, this drag-flick slightly more lofted than the others so that it bulged the net with a satisfaction that was emblematic of a complete Blacksticks comeback. New Zealand became the only side in the competition to have a perfect record.
Cosslett’s hat-trick wrestled back all three points and earned him Player of the Match. He paid tribute to the third Kiwi comeback in as many games:
“We’re just trusting our processes. [We’ve had] a little slow start the past two days but we believe in ourselves and just credit to the boys, really well done," said Cosslett.
