Women's Hockey World Cup qualifying: Ireland go into tonight's third World Cup qualifying game with New Zealand in Rome confident they can erase the memory of a 5-1 defeat when the teams last met in Auckland two years ago.

Much is at stake for both teams as they continue their bid for a top five finish in the tournament and initially a top four berth in Pool B with defeat for either leaving them with a more arduous route to pursue for a place in the finals scheduled for Madrid in September.

If anything, confidence in the Irish camp should be marginally higher after their heroics on Thursday night when they held a Korean side, ranked seventh in the world, to a scoreless draw.

The result was no fluke as Ireland more than matched their more illustrious opponents for most of the game and deservedly took the plaudits from their devoted fans as a rainbow appeared on the horizon after the deluge which had preceded the match.

In contrast, New Zealand's unfamiliar grey shirts matched the mood in the Kiwi camp and the colour of the Rome sky after they fell to a surprise 1-0 defeat against the United States in the previous match on Thursday evening.

A 1-0 win for Italy over Azerbaijan in the last game of the day left the Irish in fourth place in the group and a draw tonight would probably be enough to allow them a small margin for error as they contemplate their two remaining preliminary games against Italy and Azerbaijan.

While the New Zealand result on Thursday was something of an upset at least Ireland will take heart from the fact the Kiwis looked a pale shadow of the side which beat them in the Olympic qualifying tournament two years ago.

In fairness they have had their troubles to attend to in Rome, losing one player before the tournament started and having another ruled out during their first game which resulted in a 2-1 win over Azerbaijan.

Kayla Sharland cannot be replaced because she was injured after the tournament got under way while Niniwa Roberts has been drafted in to substitute for Honor Dillon who misses out due to a broken hand.

"They also have lost one of their best players in defender Sandy Bennett who retired after the Commonwealth Games and she'll be a big loss," said Irish coach Riet Kuper. "She was a fabulous player and a key member of their penalty corner team.

"But there is a lot to play for for both sides and it's going to be another difficult game for us. They have some good players and a 16-year-old winger (Kelly Harrison) who's very sharp."

Eimear Cregan summed up the mood as far as the players are concerned after that heroic display against Korea.

"It was a massive team performance and we worked so hard for each other," she said. "We had them rattled on occasion and most important, we learned how to remain composed towards the end of the game so we can build on that against New Zealand."

Today's Programme: Pool B: Korea v Azerbaijan, Italy v USA, Ireland v New Zealand (730pm Irish time).

Tomorrow: Pool A: France v Ukraine, Japan v China, Scotland v England.