ENTREPRENEURIAL centre forward Julian Stevenson and goalkeeper Nigel Henderson played leading roles as the Irish men's hockey squad continued their recovery mission in Kuala Lumpur by beating Belarus yesterday.
Although their World Cup hopes in this qualifying tournament had been wiped out, Ireland followed up their 1-1 draw with New Zealand (now provisional table toppers) by taking the three points against Belarus. The two goals came late in the second half after it seemed that the eastern Europeans, leading 2-1 at the interval, might forge their first win of the tournament.
Instead, Belarus finished bottom of Pool B, though it will be ironic if Ireland's reward in the initial match of the 9th-12th place play offs on Thursday turns out to be against South Africa, whose, lowly position belies the ability they have shown since the ending, of apartheid.
Interestingly, in their 2-1 defeat yesterday by the Olympic silver medallists Spain, midfielder Gregg Clark from Johannesburg became the first South African to win 100 caps.
Meanwhile Henderson, making his second international appearance, performed assertively and with invaluable mobility in foiling the menacing Belarussian breakaway forwards in the circle as they threatened to increase their lead before Ireland found sufficient pace and fluency in their buildups to earn victory.
The more direct attacks of the Belarussians - and of the red headed Stepan Klimovitch in particular - had yielded cracking goals from Dmitri Joukovski and Nikolai Sankovets in the sixth and 28th minutes but, in between, Ireland's most capped forward Daniel Clarke put the finishing touch to a backline thrust by Alan Dowd.
Dowd again led Ireland by example as he worked unsparingly to raise his side. For a while in the second half, though, passes still went astray and from one Belarus counter attack, Errol Lutton barely got back to assist Henderson in blocking Alexandre Boudnikov from scoring.
In the last quarter, however, Ireland found the stamina to move with some verve. Stevenson was especially creative and industrious, both on and off the ball. He linked up with Clarke to force an opening for David McAnulty to net the equaliser and a minute later the same three front runners were involved in snatching the winner. It was put away by Stevenson after a shot from Clarke had been parried by Valentinas Yacbkis.
As coach Cees Koppelaar said afterwards, "Ireland's patience was rewarded." Cash strapped Belarus were not an easy team to beat. They deserve much credit for their presence here in the extravagances of western driven society.
