Hockey: Beating India brings dream closer

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Experts tagged New Zealand's 1-0 win over India yesterday as being worthy of tournament final status.

New Zealand coach Kevin Towns, however, saw it as the chance to remind his players that it was only a tentative step towards a World Cup berth.

The win in their second pool game at the cup qualifying tournament in Edinburgh kept New Zealand at the top of their group. They need only a draw in tonight's final pool game against Wales for a top-eight finish.

But this is a position the New Zealand men have been in before.

At the last Olympic qualifying tournament in Osaka, they were cruising after a draw with Great Britain and a win over Belgium. Things then came horribly unstuck, and their Olympic dreams became just that.

"There can be no let-up," Towns said after watching his team beat India in a game described as the best of the tournament. "We know Wales will not be easy. Against Egypt today they turned a 0-2 deficit into a 3-2 win.

"Egypt did not help themselves though, because they had only eight players on the field at the end. Wales are a negative team who will have all 11 players back behind the ball."

Of the win over India - the highest-ranked team at the tournament - Towns said it was a step-up from the recent home series against them.

"We were in control for much of the game, apart from one little lapse. We stifled their right-side attacking options. In the end their playmaker was forced to switch to left half to try to get some ball.

"Each side had six penalty corners, and they had a couple more shots on goal."

Michael Bevin played in goal, but neither he nor Paul Woolford have yet to claim the undisputed No 1 role within the team.

The only goal came just before halftime from another penalty corner variation.

"The ball was played to the left and Ryan Archibald got his stick to it," Towns said. "Again, it was an option we had not used when they played in New Zealand."

Towns welcomed a day off for his players before tonight's encounter.

"Wayne McIndoe is struggling as he tries to recover from the flu, as are Dion Gosling and Umesh Parag.

"The game against India was very tiring, with most players having a couple of hours' sleep when they got back to the hotel at lunchtime."

If New Zealand do not lose against Wales, they will play Belgium at 10 pm (NZ time) tomorrow in the first of their post-section games. Belgium last night lost to Argentina 1-2.

The top eight teams will be split into two groups, with the top two in each qualifying for the semifinals.

The top seven teams after the play-offs will qualify for the 2002 World Cup.

* Hamstring injuries have forced Mandy Smith and Sandy Bennett out of the New Zealand women's team for next week's three tests against Australia.

They have been replaced by Toni Mason and Penny Munns.

Smith is expected to be fit for the August 18-26 Champions Trophy in Holland.