Hockeyroos coach declares her team comeback queens after last-second draw against Argentina

No matter the deficit, Hockeyroos’ coach Katrina Powell has declared no margin is too big for her side, after Australia snatched a last-minute draw against the highly-fancied Argentina.

Australia celebrate one of their goals against Argentina. Picture: Alex Pantling/Getty Images

AUSTRALIAN Hockeyroos coach Trinny Powell has boldly declared her team can come back from any deficit after a last-second redemption goal from Mariah Williams earned her side a draw against world number two Argentina.

Australia still found a way to extract a point from the top-of-the-pool clash with unbeaten Argentina despite botching two penalties, as one of the goals of the tournament put them down 3-2 with only minutes remaining.

A full-length dive from Argentina’s Maria Granatto for a deliberate deflection into goal from a penalty corner looked to have dashed their hopes after fighting back from a 2-0 deficit in the final quarter.

Kaitlin Nobbs and Williams had missed penalty strokes in that third quarter to squander a chance to go ahead, with the pair stepping up after regular flicker Tatum Stewart missed again with a knee injury.

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Williams penalty corner was to be frank second-rate - a flick only just to the left of goalkeeper Cristina Cosentino.

But as time ticked down Australia’s training kicked in - they worked a series of repeat penalty corners with calm assurance borne out of hundreds of hours of training.

Then with 6.3 seconds on the clock from the last play of the game, Clair Colwill’s penalty corner strike was deflected into goal by 28-year-old three-Olympics veteran Williams.

By the time the umpire confirmed the goal there was a second remaining in the game, with Australia and Argentina both unbeaten and both able to win the pool given they have identical goal differences with one game left.

The Hockeyroos celebrate the equalling goal against Argentina after so many missed chances. Picture: Alex Pantling/Getty Images

“It was a set play, we are really fortunate we have people who are deadly and can put the ball where it needs to go and I was able to be that person who put it away.

“In the end we dug really deep,” Williams said after her last-minute heroics.

“Two goals down against Argentina is something that is hard to come back from but we focus on doing the small things to get back into the game and that was the perfect example of us sticking to our basics and the rest takes over.

“It was a real bummer to miss that stroke and I had to redeem myself by putting that last goal in but when that next game comes around taking a stroke, I definitely won’t miss it.

“You could see there wasn’t long to go but getting the reward, I knew I had space and I said give it to me and I can hit the back of the net and it went in.”

Australia was rocked by a pair of 10th-minute goals to Lara Casas and Victoria Sauze Valdez and went into half time bamboozled by the dazzling stick work of their rivals and deflated by their pressuring tactics.

And yet for Powell it was the ultimate gutsy win.

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Powell is less concerned about winning the pool than learning the lessons that come from an epic comeback of that magnitude in Olympic play.

“That is the test, we went 1-0 down against South Africa and came back. That belief is there now that we can go 2-0 and come back into it. We still had good chances in the first quarter so it was about reminding us that it’s the case, we are in this and have to finish better and protect our goal better but we were in it and they were up for the fight, It was amazing.

“We finished top of our pool in Tokyo and lost. There are no easy games, so it doesn’t matter where we finish in the round games. It’s the lessons, the growth, the confidence.

“Tatum Stewart is our number one stroke taker but Nobbs and Williams are both really experienced stroke takers and it was fantastic for Mariah to come back and focus and score the final goal anyway. I am really proud of her.”