Hockey World Cup 2018: Australia vs England - 5 Talking Points

#1 Goals in quick succession by Australia in Quarter 4

Weyer celebrates after scoring Australia's 3rd goal of the match.

Good build-up play by The Kookaburras was witnessed at the start of the 4th quarter. Craig made a beautiful run on the right flank in the 47th minute. He found John Whetton with a fine cut back who, in turn, took the shot first time and smashed the ball into the bottom right corner. This time, even Pinner could not come to England's rescue as it was a perfect shot.

Blake Govers hit a powerful shot in the 50th minute and the ball hit the left post and crept into the goal. It was a brilliant strike and Pinner was again helpless. Trent Mitton made a darting run from the left corner and cut the ball back into a dangerous area. Govers did the rest.

These two goals really took the match away from England.

The Aussies got their third goal of the day from a splendid strike from Corey Weyer in the 56th minute and were overall clinical in their finishing.

Both Colin Batch and Danny Kerry had anticipated a close match and it was exactly that. It was a tale of quarters with fast and slow-paced quarters intermittently. In the first and 3rd quarters, not many opportunities were made by both the teams. There were a lot of turnovers during the match. Many chances were created in the 2nd and 4th quarter.

Australia came to their own in the 2nd half. The fact that England ended with the same number of shots (4) at the final whistle as they had at the end of half-time reflects how The Kookaburras became too hot to handle post the 2nd half. The Men in Yellow had 23 circle entries and 9 shots in the end -- of which three were goals.

There was a period from the 3rd to 4th quarter when England made no circle penetration in 20 minutes. The game opened up in the final quarter as the Aussies started to move the ball effortlessly. They were much more relaxed and moved fluently. Sustained pressure in the 3rd quarter was of paramount importance and their efforts ultimately yielded goals in the 4th quarter.

The Kookaburras were just clinical with their finishing. After they got the 3rd goal, Australia were happy to run the clock down and make it two wins out of two.

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