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The Australian men's hockey team are on top of the FIH Pro League standings after a 3-2 win over Germany. Playing their second-last league game ahead of the Paris Olympics, the Kookaburras avenged a penalty-shootout loss to the Germans two days earlier as they clinched victory in London on Tuesday. Germany scored first but player-of-the-match Jake Whetton equalised in the second quarter, finishing off a fine run and assist by Tom Craig with a deadly backhand strike. Germany again went ahead and led 2-1 going into the final quarter but again the Aussies responded, with Tim Howard equalising after a penalty corner. With just a few minutes remaining, the Kookaburras ensured there wouldn't be another shootout when they earned another penalty corner and again made it count as the vastly-experienced Eddie Ockenden nailed the matchwinner. The win marked a special 100th game celebration for Lithgow's Lachlan Sharp, seven years after his debut. "It's a very special moment, a very special day," Sharp said. "Being able to grind it out late like that when it was very much a midfield battle and it wasn't really fought in the circles and it was really great to get those late goals." Meanhile, the Hockeyroos are taking plenty of comfort from their fierce fightback after suffering a 3-2 loss to Germany. The Australian women found themselves down 3-0 with just 15 minutes remaining. They regrouped and finished so strongly, with goals to Alice Arnott in the 52nd minute and Stephanie Kershaw in the 56th, that they felt unlucky not to force a draw. No one wants to be 3-0 down," said striker Rosie Malone. "But we have things we practice. We have things that we go back to when we're at training in Perth that we're like, okay, if we're this many goals down this is our game plan and that's what we're going to do. "It was really promising to see that we can fight back and I think if we had a few more minutes we could have got the third goal in." The tight loss came two days after the Hockeyroos beat Germany in a thriller, triumphing 4-3 in a shootout after scrapping back from two goals down to draw level at 2-2 in regular time. Malone believed teams were holding plays back so close to the Olympics. "I think some coaches are being very strategic with what they want to show and not show ahead of the Olympics," she said. "But I think for all of us it's great preparation going into a major tournament to just see what we can achieve out on the field, see what combinations we can do and where we then need to improve." The Hockeyroos and Kookaburras play their last games of the FIH Pro League season against Great Britain on Wednesday (Thursday AEST). |
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