New Zealand humble Pakistan in FIH Nations Cup final

KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): For the second straight year, New Zealand have extinguished Pakistan`s dreams of competing in the FIH Pro League. And it was a thrashing this time around. A year after they edged Pakistan in the semi-finals of the FIH Nations Cup, defending champions New Zealand crushed Tahir Zaman’s men 6-2 in the final on Saturday to book their ticket to the Pro League once again. Having scraped past Pakistan 4-3 when the two sides met in the pool stage, New Zealand were rampant in the title clash, racing to a 5-0 halftime lead. Pakistan pulled one back in the third quarter through Zikriya Hayat but Scott Cosslett, who had also opened the scoring, restored New Zealand’s five-goal cushion before Sufyan Khan got a consolation late on. New Zealand head coach Greg Nicol hailed the aggression from his side, saying his players were `quick learners`.

“We played an incredible game and with aggression,” he told reporters. “We didn`t give Pakistan any cheap turnovers. We took our chances well.” Pakistan finished fourth at the previous edition, losing to South Africa in the third-place playoff, and Tahir was left to rue his side’s ‘inconsistency.’ “We didn’t have a good start, but we managed to get the two goals in the last two quarters,” he told reporters. “We have inconsistency problem in our game.” New Zealand stamped their authority from the get-go, Cosslett converting a penalty corner in the sixth minute to open the floodgates before Sam Hiha made it 2-0 with 49 seconds to go in the first quarter just as Pakistan seemed to have finally found their rhythm. Pakistan’s defence was finding it difficult to stem the waves of attacks from New Zealand with Dylan Thomas and Sean Findlay scoring in the space of a minute to make it 4-0 by the18th minute. Thomas, who reacted quickest to a rebound off the keeper and Findlay slotted it in from the sharpest of angles after receiving an aerial pass just inside the circle.

Scott Boyde added the fifth with another field strike in the 27th when a lifted ball came off the Pakistan goalkeeper. Pakistan changed goalkeepers at the interval, with Zikriya giving them a flicker of hope when he latched onto Abdul Hannan Shahid’s reverse to pull one back in the 36th minute. But there was to be no comeback and Cosslett got his second with two minutes remaining, converting another penalty corner, before Sufyan, who was named the young player of the tournament, found his range from a drag-flick to reduce New Zealand`s victory margin to four goals. France finished in third place, prevailing 3-2 in a shootout against South Korea after the match had ended 3-3 in regulation time. The French had lost in a shootout to Pakistan in the semi-finals on Friday. Hosts Malaysia ended sixth after falling 2-1 to Wales while Japan edged South Africa by the same score to avoid finishing bottom.-Agencies