Colts edged out 3-2 by New South Wales

U18 hockey side loses for first time on tour of Australia

KARACHI: Pakistan Junior Hockey team's winning streak on their tour of Australia came to an end on Thursday when they lost 3-2 to New South Wales (NSW) in Hobart in what was their second match of the U18 Australian Hockey Championship.

After back-to-back victories in the warm-up match and the championship opener, the Colts' confidence was visibly high as they attacked from the onset against NSW and took the lead via a penalty corner in the 27^th minute when Ghazanfar Ali converted.

The second half saw NSW come back into the game, and they made their greater possession and attacking intent count in the 38th minute when Lain Carr converted a penalty corner to level the scores 1-1.

Carr repeated the trick three minutes later, again drilling a shot in via a penalty corner to give his team the lead for the first time in the match.

Now trailing for the first time on their tour Down Under, Pakistan upped their attacking ante but weren't able to hit back immediately.

The equaliser did come, however, in the 66^th minute when Afraz Hakeem entered the circle and scored a field goal.

Their joy was only short-lived though as NSW's Ky Willott scored a field goal of his own in the 69^th minute to put his team back in the lead at 3-2, with the scores remaining unchanged for the remainder of the match.

Despite the defeat, head coach Kamran Ashraf found solace in the team's reaction to falling behind for the first time. "Our ability to come back after conceding a goal was really promising," he said. "The boys did make some mistakes in defence but we think of it as a learning curve."