MANCHESTER, Aug 2: New Zealand defeated Pakistan for the first time to cruise into the Commonwealth Games hockey final with a stunning 7-1 upset here on Friday.

The Kiwis scored twice in the first three minutes to spark a brilliant display against the lethagic Pakistanis in what turned out a surprisingly one-sided semi-final.

New Zealand’s hero was striker Phillip Burrows, who scored four goals, the last coming just as the umpire was about to blow the final whistle.

New Zealand await the winners of Friday’s other semi-final between defending champions Australia and South Africa in Sunday’s title clash.

Kiwi coach Kevin Towns compared the victory to New Zealand’s gold medal success at the Montreal Olympics in 1976.

“It was awesome, comparable to the Olympic triumph,” Towns said.

“We had studied the Pakistanis closely and realised they made too many mistakes in the league even though they won all three matches.

“We took advantage of that. Pakistan did not learn from their mistakes, we did not commit many, and that made it a very special day.”

Pakistani coach Tahir Zaman said the two quick goals at the start did his team in.

“We were unable to settle after that,” Tahir said. “There was nothing wrong with our technique, the defence just did not click.”

But manager Zafar Ali Khan, a retired army officer, slammed his team for being complacent.

“We won three games without conceding a goal and that made us overconfident,” he said.

“The boys did not realise it was a new day, a new game. The defence did not follow instructions and cracked. I think New Zealand deserved to win, they played better.”

In the previous 27 matches between the two teams, Pakistan had won 24 while the other three were drawn.

Kiwi Umesh Parag set the tone with the opener less than a minute from the start, taking a pass from the centre to beat goalkeeper Ahmed Alam.

Two minutes later, the Kiwis launched another lightening strike on the Pakistani defence which ended with an unmarked Bevan Hari pushing in the second goal.

It should have been 3-0 in the first five minutes, but Parag’s reverse flick before an empty goal whizzed wide off the post.

Pakistan, visibly rattled by the early reverses, replaced Alam with reserve goalkeeper Muhammad Qasim after nine minutes.

That, however, did not prevent New Zealand from adding to the tally as Burrows scored the third goal in the 21st minute following a penalty corner.

Pakistan finally opened their account nine minutes into the second half when Muhammad Nadeem flicked a pass from the hard-working Mohammad Sarwar.

But New Zealand hit back three minutes later as Burrows deflected a penalty corner shot from Hayden Shaw past Qasim.

Shaw, the competition’s leading scorer, slammed his 12th goal with a direct penalty corner hit, but Burrows was not finished yet.

He achieved the hat-trick six minutes before the end and then struck again in the dying seconds of what was a memorable match for him and his team.

Other results

5th/6th place

England 6 Canada 3

7th/8th place

Wales 7 Barbados 0

—AFP