An outstanding solo effort from Stephen Lambert has given the Kookaburras a series win after Australia drew with the Netherlands 1-1 in Brisbane on Thursday.
In front of his home crowd, the burly goalkeeper kept the Kookaburras in the match with several outstanding saves after the Dutch side came out firing and dominated the first half.
In one particular play, the Netherlands fired off five great shots on goal within a couple of minutes, Lambert repelling all, flinging himself around the box.
It took a great deflection from a powerful strike to get one past the Queenslander, Robert Brouwer's angled stick guiding the ball past the outstretched keeper.
It was the only score for the half, a disappointing result for the Dutch who dominated the match from the beginning, their attack on the ball and the opposition consistently resulting in turnovers.
After the break though the Kookaburras lifted, creating more drive through the midfield. Jamie Dwyer, captain for his 150th match, and Grant Schubert, in his return game after four months out with a knee injury, began to trouble the Dutch defense with their speed and in the 42nd minute combined for a goal.
Troy Elder gained possession in the midfield and took the ball into attack where he drew a defender, dished off to Dwyer who crossed to Schubert near the top of the circle. Schubert's strike on the ball beat the keeper to the left and took the scores to 1-all.
Both sides had some good opportunities to win the match in the last eighteen minutes, but at full time the 1-all score line remained, the draw meaning the Kookaburras have won the four-test series, no matter what the result on Saturday night. Australia won the first two matches 5-4 each.
"We struggled a bit in the first half," said national coach, Barry Dancer.
"They applied a lot of pressure and we didn't control our possession which meant we continually turned the ball over."
"However, a real positive for the match was the performance of Stephen Lambert. He was a real standout for us and made some crucial saves."
The fourth and final match of the series takes place on Saturday night at 19:00.
Australia 1 Netherlands 1 (Half time 0-1)
Australia - Grant Schubert 42m FG; Netherlands - Ronald Brouwer 26m FG.
Source: Hockey Australia.
