Australia has clicked into gear in game two of their European Tour with a very strong 5-1 win over Belgium.
After a good performance in game one, under new coach and former Kookaburra Adam Commens, the Belgians were looking to continue their strong form but Australia had other ideas, beginning with a bang and scoring in the first 40 seconds.
Fergus Kavanagh attacked down the left flank to Dwyer who crossed to Smith in the circle, his shot rebounding off the keeper to Naylor who slotted through the Kookaburras' first.
Controlling the ball through their defense and midfield, the Kookaburras soon found the net again. Travis Brooks scoring the first of his two goals for the match when he got on the end of a rebound after Jamie Dwyer's shot on goal was blocked.
The Kookaburras had several opportunities to further their lead but a couple of good saves and some close shots going wide had the score unchanged going into half time before Belgium capitalized on a penalty corner and reduced the deficit to one.
After the break, the Kookaburras continued their good form, totally dominating the Europeans and in the 45th minute made it 3-1 when Andrew Smith knocked in a deflection off the post after some impressive work into the circle by Ockenden.
Eight minutes later, Matthew Wells collected his own penalty corner rebound to slam his second attempt through before Brooks scored number two for the day, deflecting an Ockenden pass past the keeper to give the Kookaburras a convincing 5-1 win.
"Today was a much improved performance in our attacking game," said national coach Barry Dancer.
"Our sustained defensive intensity was the foundation for this solid performance."
The Kookaburras now travel to Nurnberg, Germany where they'll take on the team they narrowly lost the World Cup to last year in three matches.
Source: Hockey Australia
