After their bizarre opening match against Scotland, the New Zealand men’s hockey team got their campaign back on track with a 4-1 win over Pakistan.
The New Zealand effort was vastly improved on the game against Scotland, when they trailed 5-1 and clawed their way back to a 5-5 draw.
Pakistan retained possession well and showed the odd deft touch, but New Zealand were notably more aggressive and generally seemed more likely to score.
After leading 2-1 at halftime, New Zealand relaxed and controlled play well.
Hugo Inglis (2) and Dylan Thomas scored goals and right on fulltime Sam Lane added the coup de grace fourth goal. All four of the New Zealand goals were from the field, though they did earn six penalty corers as well. New Zealand had 25 shots at goal, Pakistan only eight.
Inglis said afterwards he felt the team was on the right track now after getting the cobwebs out of the way against Scotland.
“We want to play our best hockey at the end, so we just need to keep building from here,” he said.
The New Zealanders’ next match is against the powerful Australian side.