The New Zealand mens hockey team re-ignited their Olympic campaign with a 3-1 win over India at Riverbank Arena today.
After losing 2-0 to Korea in their first match, the mens Black Sticks viewed todays outing as a must-win.
The omens werent propitious when the Indians opened the scoring in the second minute with Sandeep Singh scoring from a penalty corner.
However, after that the New Zealanders gradually increased the pressure.
Andy Hayward levelled the scores in the 13th minute, after another penalty corner, and Phil Burrows converted a penalty stroke in the 24th minute.
Five minutes later Nick Wilson added New Zealands third goal after good work down the right by Shea McAleese.
That was the end of the goal-scoring. The second half was evenly contested and rather torrid.
The match was a tight one, to judge by the statistics. New Zealand had 12 shots at goal to Indias 10 and both teams earned six penalty corners.
New Zealand coach Shane McLeod was pleased with the win, but would have liked a couple more goals in the second half. "We let them off the hook a bit. It was a bit of a missed opportunity to score a couple more goals because goals could come into it, he said.
The Black Sticks next match is against The Netherlands on Friday. McLeod said if the New Zealanders could win that one, they would be back on track after their setback against Korea.
