New Zealand walk into World Cup 2010 Qualifier Final

Malaysia 3 v 2 Scotland HT 3-0 | 2009-11-12 14:00
No Venue | 2010 Men's World Cup Qualifier (National Mens) | Match Report(s)

Austria 2 v 0 Wales HT 1-0 | 2009-11-12 16:00
No Venue | 2010 Men's World Cup Qualifier (National Mens) | Match Report(s)

China 1 v 6 New Zealand HT 0-3 | 2009-11-12 18:00
No Venue | 2010 Men's World Cup Qualifier (National Mens) | Match Report(s)

The Black Sticks are through to the final of the BDO Men’s World Cup Qualifier in Invercargill, with a game in hand, after downing China 6-1 tonight.

With 12 points from four victories, New Zealand will meet either China (nine points after today) or Malaysia who now have seven points after beating Scotland.

New Zealand ran rampant over the Chinese and were three goals up by half time.

Andy Hayward scored the first two from drag flicks, taking his conversion rate to five from eight attempts. Phil Burrows scored the third on the right post, converting a beautiful drive from the far left from Ryan Archibald.

In the second half, some good work in the circle by Nick Wilson set up Simon Child for his first goal after 11 minutes. Child fired home a well struck shot from the top of the circle for his second six minutes later and Hayden Shaw drove in a furiously paced drag flick in the 56th minute to take the final tally to six. China scored a consolation goal from a penalty corner with a minute to play, through Dong Yang.

Black Sticks Coach Shane McLeod said after the game he was pleased his side had earned the right not to have to fight for the second place in the final.

“We will have to be careful not to lose our momentum and will make sure we set a good platform for the final,” he said. “We have taken our opportunities well. It is difficult for teams to handle when you have more than one key player. We have a good spread of dangerous players which has worked for us.”

Malaysia just saw off a strong second half performance by Scotland to take out the match 3-2. The Malaysians allowed the Scottish to climb into the game in the second half by turning over too much possession. The Scottish scored twice, but were unable to find the equaliser. The win kept Malaysia in hunt for the final. Austria notched up their first win, beating Wales 2-0.

Scorers

Malaysia 3 (Faizal Saari 2, Amin Rahim) Scotland (Stephen Dick, Kenneth Bain) 2 H:T 3-0.
Austria 2 (Michael Korper, Benjamin Stanzl) Wales 0 H:T 1-0
New Zealand 6 (Andy Hayward 2, Simon Child 2, Hayden Shaw, Phil Burrows) China 1 (Dong Yang) H:T 3-0