MELBOURNE, March 26: Australia outplayed Pakistan 3-0 in a bruising, ill-tempered final on Sunday to claim their third successive Commonwealth Games hockey gold medal. Penalty corner goals in each half by Liam De Young and Luke Doerner gave Australia a 2-0 lead before captain Jamie Dwyer put the match beyond doubt for the Olympic champions when he pirouetted past two defenders to score.

Pakistan’s Tariq Aziz was sent off in the second half after raising his stick in an off-play incident which flattened Australian midfielder Rob Hammond.

Hammond left the pitch with blood pouring from a large gash in his upper lip.

“My lip will heal ... the gold medal’s going to be there forever,” Hammond said after the match.

“All that matters is we got over the line. We look to hurt teams where it counts — on the scoreboard,” he said.

Hammond’s injury echoed a similar incident between the two nations in a tournament in Germany last August when Australian striker Craig Victory had his jaw broken by Pakistan captain Mohammad Saqlain’s stick.

Tariq had been banned for two matches after a similar incident in an earlier match against South Africa.

Pakistan’s best shot at the goal in the first session came through Shakeel Abassi, who latched on to a through pass from Rehan Butt, but hit wide with the defense is disarray.

Forcing eight penalty corners, and conceding none, top-ranked Australia dominated the fast-paced encounter to avenge its loss in the final of last year’s Rabobank Trophy in Amsterdam.

De Young opened the scoring in the 18th minute with a cleverly worked penalty conversion after some unforgiving defence from Pakistan.

Doerner followed suit in the second half soon after Tariq received his red card — his second of the tournament – to give Australia an invaluable 2-0 lead with 12 minutes to go.

Australia benefited from the emerging gaps in the defense, but Michael McCann and Travis Brooks missed open field scoring chances by shooting wide.

Brooks even sidestepped Pakistan goalkeeper Salman Akbar, but sent his reverse drive across the goalmouth.

Dwyer’s moment of magic then sealed the match as he spun with his back to goal between two defenders to score.

Sunday’s final was watched by Australian Prime Minister John Howard and his British counterpart Tony Blair, who were later to attend the Games closing ceremony.

World No. 5 Pakistan have not won a major title since its 1994 World Cup triumph in Sydney.

Malaysia capped their rapid improvement by bagging the bronze medal with a 2-0 win over England.

The Malaysians scored once in each half through Tengku Ahmad’s backhand flick in the 30th minute and a penalty stroke conversion by Muhammad Amin in the 45th.

England’s ambition to return with a medal were thwarted by Malaysian goalkeeper Nasihin Ibrahim, who saved five penalty corners, three of them in the last five minutes.

The jubilant Malaysians celebrated the win by pouring ice on manager Nur Azmi who has guided the team over the last six months.

Malaysia finished ahead of India and South Africa to join Pakistan in the semifinals from group B before losing to Olympic champions and favourites Australia in the penultimate round.

Malaysian captain Kuhan Shanmuganathan said the bronze will inspire his team at the World Cup qualifiers to be held in Changzhou, China next month.

“The team is focussed towards making it to the World Cup in Germany in September and this medal is a real boost,” he said.

“I think we played well from the start of this tournament and it is great to be rewarded with a medal.”

England coach Jason Lee conceded lost opportunities cost his team a medal.

“The ball was more in their corner than ours, but we did not make use of the chances that came our way,” he said.

“We have to prepare better for China if we are to qualify for the World Cup.”—Reuters/AP