Australia continued their journey in the 12th Sultan of Johor Cup with a 5-1 victory over Japan at the Johor Hockey Stadium in Taman Desa, Johor Bahru.
Both teams needed to win this match to move up the points standings. The Japanese had 3 points before the start of the match while the Australians had one point following a 2-3 defeat to Great Britain, and drew 2-2 against New Zealand.
Following this triumph, Australia moved to second in the standings on four points, behind leaders India and New Zealand.
Australian head coach Jay Stacy said: “It looks good on the scoreboard. We made some penalty corners and tried to get some rhythm through them. I still think we can do a little bit better with our start to the match. The level is still below our standard.”
“But we did get better than our two previous games. It was very warm at the beginning but when the sun was out and the match progressed, we felt a little bit cooler,” he added.
Having lost to India 4-2 in last Saturday’s opening match and beaten Malaysia 4-1 in a thrilling encounter two days ago, the Japanese went on the offensive in the first quarter. They received three penalty corners but failed to find the net.
In total, the Burras dominated the game with nine penalty corners against Japan’s three.
With the temperature hovering at 35 degrees and the humidity level estimated at around 55%, the conditions were tough for the teams. If it was Japan who dominated the first quarter, the baton changed hands in the second quarter with the Burras taking charge in the early proceedings.
The Australians won two back-to-back penalty corners and succeeded in one. Dylan Downey sent a powerful low drive in the 17th minute to the right of goalkeeper Kisho Kuroda to put the Burras 1-0 ahead.
Two-time SOJC champions Australia made most of the opportunities after Japan lost ball possession and held the advantage to go 3-1 up through Ian Grobbelaar who converted penalty corners in the 34th and 43rd minutes.
Naru Kimuru pulled one back for Japan in the 46th minute via a field goal to reduce the deficit to 1-3.
Australia’s fourth goal came through Grobbelaar’s first hat-trick in the tournament via another penalty corner. However, there was a lengthy video referral before the umpire judged in favour of the Burras. Jesse Absolom scored the fifth from a field goal with a minute remaining at the end of regulation time.
Australian Ian Grobbelaar receive the Man of the Match Award from SOJC venue manager Mr Murugan Nair. Ian scored the first hat-trick in the SOJC against Japan.
Australian Jesse Absolom (No 2) attempts to score against Japan in their SOJC match yesterday. Australia won 5-1