Honours even for GB Hockey against Australia on opening night of Champions Trophy

BySportsbeat

Published 11/06/2016 at 10:58 GMT

A defensive masterclass from Great Britain ensured they took home an even share of the spoils in their 0-0 draw with world No.1 side Australia on the opening night of the Champions Trophy.

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Image credit: Eurosport

The Champions Trophy sees six of the world's best teams battle it out in what is the final major tournament before this summer's Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

All six countries will face each other in the preliminary pool stages, before the top two teams play for gold on the final day, with the third and fourth ranked teams fighting for bronze.

With the Kookaburras demonstrating their intent from the first whistle, GB were forced to defend from early on, with goalkeeper George Pinner producing some magnificent saves to keep his team in the game on home soil at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

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David Ames had the first chance to give the Brits the advantage, showing great power and pace to break through into the Australian circle to force their goalkeeper to come off his line to make a smothering save.

Australia were awarded two penalty corners in the final minutes of the first quarter, but Pinner was equal to the task, firstly getting down well to deny Chris Ciriello before putting a big boot on the ball to keep the scores even.

GB fought back to bring themselves back into the contest, with Simon Mantell stinging the goalkeeper's gloves with a shot on the turn, before Ashley Jackson's drag flick from a penalty corner was well saved on the stroke of half-time.

The final stages of the game saw frantic battling from both sides as they pushed for a winning goal, but Pinner continued his heroics in goal to keep Australia at bay and earn a well-deserved point for GB.

"As a team we pride ourselves on our defence," he said. "It really was a great performance with everyone throwing themselves in there, putting their bodies on the line and that's what you need to win tournaments."

Captain Barry Middleton added: "We take encouragement from the result and we know the performance can get better.

"Tournament hockey isn't always about who plays their best at the beginning, it's about if you can build through the tournament and finish strong and that's what we're looking to do."

The GB men will face 2014 Champions Trophy runners-up India at 4pm on Saturday afternoon as they continue their quest to win the tournament for the very first time.

Defending champions Germany salvaged a late 3-3 draw with India on Friday while South Korea took an early advantage with a surprise win over Belgium.

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