An 82nd minute strike from Sarah Gregorius has seen the Football Ferns secure a 1-1 draw against the Korea Republic to finish second in their group at the Cyprus Womens Cup. The Ferns fell behind to a 38th minute goal the first conceded by New Zealand in the tournament but forced a turnover high up the pitch to allow Gregorius to level the scores and keep hopes alive of a win which would have seen them leapfrog the Koreans at the top of Group C. A lopsided three pool format which favoured teams in Pool A and B was amended ahead of the final pool game but an unbeaten New Zealand can still only finish as high as seventh, playing off against the Netherlands the third place team from Group B at 1am Wednesday morning (NZT) for that honour. Group C winners Korea Republic play off against Finland the third place team from Group B for fifth place. The other group winners, France and Canada meet in Wednesdays final. Coach Tony Readings took heart from a positive result against higher ranked opposition and praised his sides miserly defence which has so far conceded the equal fewest goals, along with France, in the 12 nation event. We always want to finish as high as we can, but for this tournament that is secondary to putting in the performances we need to achieve want we want at the Olympics later this year, Readings said. It looks like we have the Dutch on finals day they are another testing European side and well be looking for another step up in performance. We have defended really well in this tournament and even today the goal we conceded was from an under-hit backpass so teams have not been able to break us down. Weve only conceded one goal in the tournament and both keepers weve used have been great. Weve played with a lot of composure at the back and were now combining with the attacking ability further forward. Cyprus Womens Cup March 4 Paralimni, Cyprus New Zealand 1 (Sarah GREGORIUS 82) Korea Republic 1 (38) Halftime: 0-1 New Zealand: Jenny BINDON (GK), Ali RILEY, Abbey ERCEG, Rebecca SMITH (captain), Ria PERCIVAL, Katie HOYLE, Hayley MOORWOOD (Betsy HASSETT 55), Amber HEARN, Kirsty YALLOP (Annalie LONGO 75), Sarah GREGORIUS, Emma KETE (Rosie WHITE 46). Substitutes not used: Rebecca ROLLS (RGK), Anna GREEN, Katie BOWEN, Kristy HILL, Holly PATTERSON, Hannah WILKINSON (injured). Coach: Tony READINGS 2012 Cyprus Cup Matchday One Results France 3 Switzerland 0 Netherlands 2 Italy 1 South Africa 1 Korea Republic 2 Canada 5 Scotland 1 England 3 Finland 1 New Zealand 2 Northern Ireland 0 Matchday Two results Switzerland 0 England 1 Scotland 2 Netherlands 1 Northern Ireland 0 Korea Republic 1 Finland 1 France 2 Italy 1 Canada 2 New Zealand 0 South Africa 0 Matchday Three results Italy 2 Scotland 1 New Zealand 1 Korea Republic 1 Netherlands 0 Canada 1 Finland 3 Switzerland 1 England 0 France 3 Northern Ireland 0 South Africa 2
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