Kookaburras beat Belgium in WL finals
Jake Whetton scored in the final minute of Australia's opening World League Finals match on Friday to seal a dramatic 3-2 win over Belgium in Delhi.
Kieran Govers announced his return to fitness with two excellent penalty corner strikes to twice put the Kookaburras ahead, only for Belgium to level almost immediately on each occasion.
But Whetton ensured the Kookaburras avenged their losses to Belgium in the opening fixture and final of the World League Semi-Finals in Rotterdam last June.
Striding into the circle, the Kookaburras No.12 went sprawling but was able to apply the deftest of touches on his reverse to lift the ball over the Belgian goalkeeper.
"It's a team performance. We stuck to our game plan the whole way. It was a little scrappy towards the end but we stuck to our game plan and came away with a good, hard-fought victory in the end," man of the match Whetton said.
"There's no easy game here and we recognise that from World League (round) three against Belgium. It was a great test for us to have them straight up and now a massive test tomorrow against Holland."
The game came to life in the final few minutes of the first half when Govers broke the deadlock, but Tom Boon fired home an equaliser less than 60 seconds later.
Govers' second goal 12 minutes into the second half restored Australia's advantage but again Belgium fought back, forcing substitute goalkeeper George Bazeley into two good blocks.
Moments later Bazeley's goal was breached by Thomas Briels, who took advantage of a mistake in the Kookaburras' defence to equalise from close range.
The Kookaburras face London Olympics silver medallists The Netherlands on Saturday (9.30pm AEDT).
