Australia Too Strong For Great Britain's Men In Sydney

Australia 5 (3)

Wotherspoon (14’, FG); Sharp (19’, FG); Craig (29’, FG); Brand (45’, PC); Mitton (55’, FG)

Great Britain 1 (1)

Taylor (18’, PC)

Great Britain’s men fell to a disappointing defeat in their second FIH Pro League match against Australia.

Having drawn 4-4 in a scintillating game the day before, it was expected to be another close battle under slightly cooler Sydney skies.

But the Kookaburras were relentless, with five different scorers finding the net despite the best efforts of Harry Gibson, who put in another impressive performance in goal.

Luke Taylor had brought GB level early in the second quarter but the hosts put their foot down after that and dominated much of the game.

Dylan Wotherspoon opened the scoring in the 14th minute for Australia as, unmarked in the circle, he swept the ball past Gibson. That came after the goalkeeper had already made several important stops earlier on.

Early in the second quarter Taylor’s ferocious flick drew the sides level but less than a minute later Australia had the lead again as Lachlan Sharp found the target.

GB then saw two corners saved before the Kookaburras struck a decisive blow at the end of the half through Tom Craig, before Tim Brand beat Gibson in the dying moments of the third quarter.

Trent Mitton then netted for the second time in two days with five minutes to go to seal the win.

After the game, GB captain Adam Dixon said: “Today was a tough game. I think we came out quite sprightly, winning corners early on and keeping them under pressure. But if we stayed open at the back they were going to grind us down with opportunities and that’s exactly what they did.

“We just weren’t on it. We were trying a few new things and it just didn’t work today.

“The job for us now is to stay positive and go again. Last time we were in Christchurch we put a really good performance in against New Zealand so that’s where we’ll be hoping to pick things up again.”

Great Britain’s men are next in action against New Zealand next weekend at 4am on Saturday 8 February and 2am on Sunday 9 February.

Starting XI: Ames, Forsyth, Griffiths, Sloan, Gleghorne, Dixon (C), Jackson, Gibson (GK), Sorsby, Calnan, Wallace

Subs (Used): Taylor, Shipperley, Martin, Roper, Gall, Draper

Subs (Unused): Pinner (GK), Ansell, Waller, Sanford