BIRMINGHAM: Pakistan’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals suffered a setback when they were beaten 4-1 by New Zealand in the second Pool ‘A’ match of the Commonwealth Games hockey tournament on Sunday.
Once Hugo Inglis scored a stunning second-quarter double for New Zealand, there was no way back for Pakistan, who opened their campaign with a 2-2 draw against South Africa on Saturday.
With the top two teams from each of the two pools advancing to the last four, Pakistan now have to win their remaining two matches against Scotland and Australia.
Six-time champions Australia completed their campaign with a 12-0 thrashing of Scotland, who drew 5-5 with New Zealand on Saturday.
During the match against South Africa, due to the head injury and caution of defender Mubasher Ali, New Zealand took advantage of Pakistan’s defensive weakness and won an important victory.
Pakistan national team coach Sameer Hussain said the team needed to prepare for the remaining matches.
“Our defense was not the best today because of Mubasher’s injury. We forced him to rest repeatedly during the match and send his substitutes as he was not fully fit,” Sameer told APP.
“We also missed our chances to score. Yesterday we played our first match and today our second. But there is no excuse for that because we had to win this match.
“New Zealand put us on the back foot in the second quarter and we couldn’t really get back into it. We were not at our best today. We have to accept it. We will pick ourselves up and try to win the next two matches to qualify for the semi-finals.”
After a scoreless first quarter, Inglis scored back-to-back goals for New Zealand in the 17th and 18th minutes. Just before the half-time whistle, Ghazanfar Ali scored a brilliant field goal to bring Pakistan back into the contest.
However, New Zealand sealed the result when Dylan Thomas grabbed a third in the 43rd before Sam Loan put the icing on the cake when he made it 4-1 in the final minute of the match.
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