New Zealand recovered from a sluggish start to beat Wales 5-1 in their opening womens hockey match at the Delhi Commonwealth Games today.
Despite having an overwhelming amount of possession, New Zealand went to the halftime break only 1-1. However, they applied themselves in the second spell and scored from a succession of penalty corners.
The impressive final scoreline could have been even more lopsided, but for a missed second half penalty stroke. The New Zealanders had several more opportunities they failed to convert.
Midfielder Gemma Flynn said the New Zealanders were happy with their second half performance.
We got the win and thats the first thing we needed to do, she said. In the first half we were very slow and didnt have any flow. We tried to speed up the tempo in the second half and put more passes together. Once we started scoring goals, we got our confidence up.
Flynn said the heat in Delhi was a factor for the New Zealanders. Its hotter than it was in Beijing [for the 2008 Olympics] and we played today right in the middle of the day. But we are gradually getting used to it.
Coach Mark Hager said Wales were an unknown going into the match, but he knew Wales were a good team with some quality players.
There was far too much dribbling in the first half, which might have been nerves, he said. But we got the ball moving in the second half and made some good decisions.
Katie Glynn opened the scoring for New Zealand after 18 minutes, and Abigail Welsford equalised for Wales two minutes before the break.
In the second half, New Zealands goals came from Gemma Flynn, Anna Thorpe (2) and Clarissa Eshuis.
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