Absolute madness as Kookaburras win a thriller after goal furore

Controversy has exploded with the Kookaburras winning through to the final after a moment that questioned the “spirit of the game”.

The ball did not appear to be stationary before the play resumed. Photo: Channel 7. `

The Kookaburras are through to the final at the Commonwealth Games after surviving a nail-biting thriller against England.

Controversy exploded in a rollercoaster fourth quarter as the Aussies pulled off an incredible comeback win.

Australia was down 2-0 and it looked like an enormous upset was on the cards, before the Kookaburras launched a brave fightback to win 3-2 and keep their perfect record of never missing a Commonwealth Games final, and never surrendering the Commonwealth crown they have worn since the sport was introduced to the Games.

In the end it was the Aussies trying desperately to hold on in the final minutes as England couldn’t find a way to break the Aussie defence despite a barrage of penalty corners.

The Kookaburras got their crucial third goal in controversial circumstances with England calling for a review leading up to the moment where Daniel Beale tapped in the winning goal.

Australia was looking to re-start play quickly after the referee pulled England up for touching the ball with their feet.

England challenged that Australia did not let the ball be stationary before resuming play.

Replays showed it was questionable that the ball had been stationary at any point.

Former Hockeyroos star Georgie Parker said the goal should have technically been disallowed, despite saying the goal should stand because the quick re-start was “in the spirit of the game”.

She said if she was the video review official she would have taken the goal off Australia.

“This is very much a ‘letter of the law’ thing,” she said on Channel 7.

“You are meant to stop the ball before you take the free hit.”

The ball did not appear to be stationary before the play resumed. Photo: Channel 7. `

She went on to say: “It basically stopped for me. I would hate if this (review) went through.

“It didn’t stop, but I would hate it if they disallowed it for that. Teams are doing that fifty per cent of the time, including England.

“I will be so disappointed, but look, I mean, technically, that is the rule, you are supposed to stop it or make an effort to stop it.

“I would be so disappointed. For the sake of what is in the spirit, I think England are clutching at straws, but technically (it should be disallowed).

“Every team does that, and you want to be playing a fast-paced game of hockey, that is why that rule was brought in.

“Technically, maybe that was the wrong decision.”

The goal stood, despite England players continuing to protest with the on-field referee.

The drama only increased from there as the Kookaburras were also hard done by when they reviewed a call that awarded England a penalty corner for the ball jumping up and almost-touching the leg of an Aussie defender. Despite the ball clearly not touching the Aussie, the call was not overruled by the review official.

There was also another call that went against Australia with Jeremy Hayward getting struck in the torso off an England penalty corner with the referee awarding England another penalty corner despite the Aussie appearing to be inside the 5m distance from when the shot was taken.

Daniel Beale celebrates the crucial goal. Photo by Tom Dulat/Getty Images.

Aussie commentators Georgie Parker and Alister Nicholson on Channel 7 both judged that Heywood had got inside the 5m mark after bolting from the goal mouth at the start of the penalty corner.

England had a flurry of penalty corners in the final minutes, but simply could not find a way past the Aussie defence and keeper Andrew Charter.

England even had a penalty corner with 25 seconds to play with the game coming down to the final second of the match before the siren finally sounded.

The key difference was the quality in the final third with Australia scoring one goal from its three penalty corners, while England was unable to score once from its 14 penalty corners.

England scored after just four minutes when Charter made a rare mistake when trying to save a fairly straightforward shot from wide of the goals.

England made it 2-0 when they capitalised on Australia being given a yellow card.

Blake Govers scored from a penalty corner just four minutes before half time to give Australia hope.

Jacob Anderson then levelled it up at 2-2 with a sweet backhand shot on the run that beat the keeper just moments before the end of the third quarter. England had been holding on for the entire quarter with two players off the field as a result of yellow cards.

In the end, all that matters is that the Kookaburras are through to the final.

Earlier, India defeated South Africa in the other semi-final.

The gold medal game is scheduled for 9.30pm on Monday (AEST).

It comes after the Hockeyroos on Saturday morning won their semi-final in a blockbuster against India to set up a gold medal showdown with England at 12am on Monday morning.