Reid praises mental strength as Kookaburras put destiny back in own hands

KOOKABURRAS coach Graham Reid lauded his side’s mental strength after they snapped a two-game losing streak - to beat Great Britain and book a quarter-final berth.

Australia's Jacob Whetton scores against Great Britain to help the Kookaburras progress

KOOKABURRAS coach Graham Reid lauded his side’s mental strength after they snapped a two-game losing streak - and a 200 minute goal drought - to beat Great Britain and book a quarter-final berth.

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After dropping consecutive games to Spain and New Zealand, the world no.1 Kookaburras had their backs to the wall but responded strongly by beating the Brits 2-1.

The tense win, which saw Australia score both goals in the fourth quarter went down to the final minutes, when England scored and had another would-be goal cleared off the line by Matthew Swann.

Australia's Jacob Whetton scores against Great Britain to help the Kookaburras progress

But in the end Australia’s defence held firm, and the hard-earned win was a big relief to the players and Reid.

“​It was a top-class performance. I was very happy with our bounce back, if you like. It guarantees a quarter-final berth, which is good,” Reid said.

“Relief, you can see them thinking ‘yep, we can still do this thing that we love doing, and that we’re bloody good at’”.

After going goalless in their losses to Spain and New Zealand, the normally prolific Kookaburras continued to defy belief by failing to score in the opening two quarters against Great Britain at Deodoro.

But the dam wall broke in the 48th minute, when Aran Zalewski finally guided a goal past the keeper and then Jacob Whetton followed up with a tap-in second just five minutes later.

British poacher Ashley Jackson scored from a penalty corner with two minutes left and set up a tense finale, but Australia held firm.

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“I was very happy having that game tonight. For us, that was a quarter-final type game,” Reid said.

“If we lost that it was going to make life tough and put our destiny in other people’s hands.

Now it is in ours again. We just have to make sure we finish the job against Brazil and get our corners working.”

Australia have a final pool game against the host country but don’t know yet who’ll they play in the quarters.

Reid said he felt like the Kookaburras had shaken off the tension that comes with the Olympics, and were now back on the rails.

The win ensures Australia a place in the quarter-finals

“At the end of the day the habits and form weren’t too far away from the surface,” Reid said.

“It is just understanding it is a different tournament, the Olympics. It is a tough animal.

“We talk a lot about connectedness, and sometimes it is really hard in the pressure and the cauldron of the Olympics. We have already seen teams and individuals go by the wayside here in Rio. It is a high pressure situation and in a team sport getting that connectedness during those pressure moments is tough.

“But we saw that tonight, they knew where each other were, they were connected to each other. Very pleased, now to get on with the rest of the tournament.”

Originally published as Reid praises mental strength as Kookaburras put destiny back in own hands