Kookaburras put seven past Malaysia in dominant display
Published Sun 24 Apr 2022
Jack Welch and Blake Govers both struck twice and debutant Ben Rennie kept a clean sheet to steer the Kookaburras to a 7-0 rout of Malaysia in the second match of their series in Perth.
Following yesterday’s 3-0 win to open the 4-match series, the Kookaburras put in a commanding display as Nathan Ephraums, Josh Simmonds and Jacob Anderson also found the back of the net.
Similarly to Match 1, the Kookaburras’ opening goal came early. Anderson tore down the left on a counter attack sending across a searching ball and Welch somewhat elegantly spun and managed to get his stick on the high ball as it came across him to turn it in.
The lead was doubled in the 11th minute when persistence in the circle from Ky Willott saw the ball find Ephraums at close range with his back to goal and the young Victorian provided an expert finish.
A successful Simmonds drag flick and a second goal to Welch in the space of three minutes made it 4-0 at half time.
Malaysia had their moments with the Kookaburras given a scare in the second quarter but Norsyafiq Sumantri could not hit the target with his attempted shot.
Govers converted from a penalty corner in the 34th minute as the score threatened to blow out, however two quality saves from Malaysian goalkeeper Hafizuddin Othman prevented Jeremy Hayward from adding to the tally.
In the 51st minute Govers scored his 99th international goal before the Kookaburras conceded their first penalty corner with 6 minutes remaining that tested Rennie with a low down save.
The Western Australian goalkeeper then produced a top drawer save to keep Malaysia scoreless, with Anderson putting the icing on the cake for the Kookaburras late on.
For Welch, it had been two years since he last played on the international stage up until the Malaysia Series and the 24 year old Tasmanian is delighted to be in amongst it again.
“It was good to get back out there and of course good to get on the score sheet,” said Welch.
“We learnt a lot from the first game yesterday in the way they defended and tackled, and we had a better second half today which was positive.”
“The new young guys have brought a lot of energy and we have been training hard together. We’re building some good connections so it’s good to take what we’re doing at training and bring it into a game.”
The teams have a rest day tomorrow before Match 3 on Tuesday at 6.30pm local (8.30pm AEST). Tickets for the remaining matches are on sale now and both games will be livestreamed on LIVEHockey.
Match Details
Kookaburras 7 (Welch 5’/29’, Ephraums 11’, Simmonds 27’, Govers 34’/51’, Anderson 59’)
Malaysia 0
@ Perth Hockey Stadium
Kookaburras: 4.Jake Harvie, 7.Nathan Ephraums, 9.Jacob Anderson, 10.Josh Beltz, 11.Eddie Ockenden (c), 12.Jake Whetton, 13.Blake Govers, 15.Josh Simmonds, 16.Tim Howard, 18.Ben Rennie (gk), 19.Craig Marais, 20.Ky Willott, 21.Jack Welch, 22.Flynn Ogilvie, 23.Daniel Beale, 26.James Collins, 32.Jeremy Hayward
Unused Substitutes: 30.Andrew Charter (gk)
