TERRASSA, July 27: A last-gasp match-winner by Sergi Enrique gave Spain a 3-2 victory over a Pakistan thanks to a missed penalty stroke by Sohail Abbas in the Champions Trophy hockey on Thursday.

The victory has put Spaniards in a strong position for a place in Sunday’s final.

But Spaniards must also be thankful to Sohail Abbas who missed a penalty stroke in the second period.

Pakistani weak defence was once again exposed when Spain opened the scoring through Santi Freixa’s sixth goal of the tournament in the 10th minute.

Mohammad Saqlain, who is back in Pakistan ranks after a three-match ban for misconduct, gave a pass across the face of goal to see team-mate Akthar Ali score from close range in the 29th minute.

After a poor display against the Netherlands, Pakistan goalkeeper Slaman Akbar was in superb and made some good saves in the first half.

Sohail, the penalty corner expert who is yet to play any major role, added misery when he sent the ball wide over the crossbar on a penalty stroke three minutes into second half. He wasted another chance this time through a penalty corner.

While the Pakistani short corner striker failed, it was Santiago Freixa who put Spain ahead, converting a penalty corner in the 60th minute.

Feeling the pressure, Sohail finally scored through a penalty corner from a deflection off Spanish goalkeeper Quico Cortes to equalise two minutes from time.

But Spaniards were resilient as Enrique snatched the match-winner seconds before the final whistle after being assisted by K. Fabregas.

Meanwhile, earlier the Netherlands played catch-up with Germany in oppressive heat and humidity to draw 3-3.

Germany's Matthias Witthaus kept his side in the game through goals five minutes into the match and just before the break by punishing Dutch defensive errors to score with unchallenged shots in the circle.

But the Netherlands played wide into the forward pockets of the pitch and Matthias Brouwer and Nick Meijer set up tap-in goals from the left for Rob Reckers and Karel Klaver to even the score 2-2 at half-time.

Germany surged ahead 3-2 soon after the restart off Christopher Zeller's penalty corner conversion until Taeke Taekema levelled the score again with his conversion of a second Dutch penalty corner.

Germany's deep defence was in trouble in the final phases, their woes compounded by Zeller's yellow card suspension just seven minutes from the hooter.

But the Dutch were unable to break the deadlock despite shots on goal by Ronald Brouwer and Timme Hoying.

Both team coaches said their players struggled with the heat and humidity and both sides were capable of playing at a higher level.

“We failed to take our chances in the last six minutes and we were too late when we put pressure on Germany in that period,” Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans said.

German counterpart Bernard Peters paid tribute to his players' fighting spirit when they were a player down in the final six minutes.

“In the first half my team was not aggressive enough in man-to-man marking, however, in the second half the team had better man-to-man and zone defence,”he said.

Fridays will be rest day. Three matches will be played on Saturday.

Saturday fixtures (timings in PST)

Pakistan v Argentina at 7.00pm; Spain v the Netherlands at 9.00pm; Australia v Germany at 11.00pm.—AFP