Australia take bronze with 6-3 win over Pakistan

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Sydney: Australia erased some of the memories of their cruel semi-final loss to The Netherlands by beating Pakistan 6-3 to take the Olympic men's hockey bronze medal on Saturday.

Troy Elder was the star of the show, grabbing a hat-trick as Australia repeated the bronze medal they won in Atlanta four years ago.

Taking on the team with the most lethal penalty corner specialist in the game, Sohail Abbas, the Australians countered with a superb variation at the set piece which produced instant rewards.

From their first corner of the game in the third minute, Australia pushed the ball outside the circle to Brent Livermore, who hit it across the face of goal. Jay Stacy dummied a shot and the ball finished with the unmarked Elder, who converted to make it 1-0.

Pakistan levelled through Atif Bashir three minutes later before Elder's second goal gave the lead back to Australia.

Stephen Davies put Australia 3-1 up in the 30th minute as Pakistan's zone defence continued to allow the 1996 bronze medallists plenty of space.

Abbas pulled one back from a penalty corner in the 45th minute, but the margin was back to two goals in the 49th minute when James Elmer displayed brilliant control to beat two defenders and lob the ball over goal-keeper Ahmad Alam.

Elder's third goal made it 5-2 and Michael Brennan found the net with a scorching reverse stick shot in the 66th minute to ice the victory. Pakistan got a consolation goal through Kashif Javad in the last 10 seconds.

Brent Livermore rebounded superbly from his penalty stroke miss in the semi-final to play a key role for Australia, while captain Michael York and forward Stephen Davies bid farewell to the international stage with fine performances.

''This is certainly a much better feeling than going home with nothing,'' said York. ''It wasn't the medal we wanted but it is still fantastic. The guys really opened up and had a go.''



(c) Reuters Limited.