Spain got their FIH Pro League campaign off to a great start as they beat New Zealand 3-2 at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Saturday.
They Max Caldas-coached side went on the offensive from the very word go and won themselves a penalty corner early on. Although they failed to convert it, they won couple more a few minutes later and this time Pau Cunill made no mistake of converting it. As a result, Spain went ahead in eighth minute.
As the game progressed, they won couple more PCs but it was New Zealand who sounded the board in successive minutes in the second quarter. Hayden Phillips scored the first in 26th and Simon Child then made it 2-1 in the next minute itself.
However, New Zealand, who lost to India on Friday after leading 3-1, failed to hold onto the lead once again as Marc Reyne equalized for Spain nine minutes into the third quarter. The Spaniards upped the tempo in search of the winner and won two more PCs towards the end of the third quarter. Sadly they couldn't hit the target from either of them.
They didn't have to wait too long though as Pere Amat found the target for the Europeans two minutes into the final quarter to the joy of his teammates and coach Caldas.
In the dying minutes of the game, with New Zealand going all out for the equalizer and Spain looking to add to their tally, it got a bit physical and as many as three yellow cards were handed out in quick succession. As a result New Zealand were down to nine men while Spain played with ten.
Despite that the Black Sticks fought on till the very end and won themselves a PC in the last minute. But to their dismay, they couldn't convert it and went down to their second loss of the tournament.
