Anita Punt: We had to dig deep against Argentines

The clash between Argentina and New Zealand lived up to expectations, says Anita Punt.

Hello again.

Our clash with Argentina was billed as the biggest match of the second round of the Hawke's Bay Cup competition and it certainly lived up to those expectations.

Our first-up draw against Japan didn't see us at our best but it was certainly exciting to get to the point of the competition where we could meet the third-ranked team in the world. They had comprehensively beaten us in our final warmup game and we really had to avenge that moment.

This made Sunday night's Cup match so incredibly important for the girls, firstly to get rid of the loss from our memory and for our aspirations in the Cup.

Argentina are always tough and our defence had to work really hard to keep them at bay. Real credit goes to defender Liz Thompson who stepped up and had an awesome game, and the other one I should mention is our goalkeeper Amelia Gibson.

Time and again our defensive line repelled Argentina, but really the whole team played well. In the midfield and up front we all worked hard and did the basics well.

The odd trap was missed but to win when we didn't play our very best game is promising for us.

At times we played some great hockey but it was important that we didn't get complacent.

When Argentina fought back to 3-2 nearing the end of the game, we knew we had to keep fighting, hold the ball and just grind it out.

I expect that the spectators got their money's worth as there was plenty of goalmouth action at both ends of the field.

We had many opportunities inside the goal circle and on many occasions we made those chances count.

When you are on attack you are always looking for outcomes. If you can't score a goal it's nice if you can win a penalty corner or at least get a shot on goal and against Argentina we achieved that on many occasions.

We were really happy with our performance; it wasn't perfect and there are plenty of things we can work on and get better at, but the win is just the boost the girls need as we get to the business end of the tournament.

Today our focus will be on the final pool game against Korea. We did play them during the warmup series in Auckland so we do know a little bit about them.

They play a more defence-dominated style and then try to catch their opponents on a fast break.

As you would expect, some of the girls have a few little injury niggles after tough matches in the first two rounds but we are all in good heart and looking forward to finishing our pool play in style against Korea tonight.

See you at the park.