Lachlan Sharp’s Kookaburras have progressed to the quarter-finals of the men’s Hockey World League Final following their third straight draw on Monday night.
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Australia were unable to find the killer touch as the game against England finished 2-2.
The men in green and gold pressed hard in the final minutes and despite some frantic scenes in the final 60 seconds could not score the winning goal.
The result means Australia finishes third in Pool B behind Germany and England who managed to snag two wins and one win respectively.
Australia will now face the second place finisher from Pool A on either Wednesday or Thursday. This could be any one of Spain, Argentina, Netherlands or Belgium, however Belgium look set to finish top of the group.
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Despite being ranked number two in the world, the men in green and gold have failed to put away their lower ranked opponents in Germany (fifth), India (sixth) and England (seventh).
For the third consecutive game, the Aussies went behind early.
England’s Liam Ansell scored the opener in the fourth minute.
The Kookaburras worked hard to level in the first period with Lachlan Sharp denied following an intercept by Blake Govers.
Australia managed to take the lead in the third quarter after goals to Dylan Wotherspoon (33’) and Govers (41’).
But the Aussies couldn’t hold out long enough to secure their first win of the tournament as England equalised through Phil Roper in the 54th minute.
The Lithgow Mercury mentioned Lachi Sharp performed impressively in his second game against Germany and was the people’s choice for Man of the Match on Twitter.
However we didn’t mention Sharp also nabbed Junior Player of the Match honours.
The prize came with a tidy cheque for 25,000 rupees or just over 500 Australian dollars.
Go get ‘em Lachi!