SOJC: Australia Bash New Zealand 9-1 To Keep Clean Slate

JOHOR BAHRU (Johor, Malaysia), Nov 3 (Bernama) -- Australia kept their unbeaten record after roasting New Zealand 9-1 in the third match of the 2016 Sultan of Johor Cup (SOJC) hockey tournament at Taman Daya Hockey Stadium here Wednesday. The team, also known as the Burras, maintained their top position in the table with seven points from two wins and a draw. In their opening game, Australia crushed Japan 6-0 and drew 2-2 with Malaysia Tuesday. Ironically in Wednesday's match, it was New Zealand which opened the score in the 11th minute via a penalty corner converted by Sam Lane before the goal avalanche piled on them. The Australians caught up in the 20th minute when Max Hendry equalised the score with a field goal before Matthew Bird netted the second goal through a penalty corner in the 34th minute. In the second half, the Burras went berserk when Blake Govers slotted a field goal in the 35th minute, followed by a penalty corner goal by Andrew Scanlon for the fourth goal in 41st minute, before Kiran Arunasalam put in the fifth via a penalty corner in the 53rd minute. Blake Govers converted a penalty corner in 55th minute to put the score at 6-1 for Australia and two minutes later Matthew Bird made it 7-1 with a field goal. New Zealand could only watch helplessly when Australia continued to rip their defence apart again in the 63rd minute with a field goal by Max Hendry before the bashing ended at 9-1 when Frazer Gerrard converted a penalty corner in the 66th minute. Meanwhile, Pakistan collected three full points and secured the second spot on the table after beating Malaysia 4-1 Wednesday night. Pakistan opened the score in the seventh minute when Abu Mahmood scored from a penalty corner before Pakistan captain Muhammad Dilber weaved through Malaysian defence for their second goal in the 20th minute. Malaysia were awarded a penalty stroke which Muhammad Najmi Farizal Jazlan scored cleanly in the 25th minute but Shah Irshad put in Pakistan's third goal five minutes later from a field run. The last goal of the match came from Ullah Sami in the 45th minute to give Pakistan a 4-1 victory over the hosts. SOJC newcomer, Japan continued their fine run on the third day by beating England 2-1. Japan are now third on the table with six points after they collected their first three points yesterday from a 4-1 win against New Zealand, even after having a disastrous start going down 0-6 to Australia in the opening match. In Wednesday's match, Japan and England battled for 40 minutes before the first goal came for Japan from Koji Yamasaki via a penalty corner while captain James Gall equalised for England from a field goal in the 65th minute. However England's happiness was short-lived when Koji Yamasaki sealed the match for Japan with a field goal three minutes later (68th minute). -- BERNAMA