Goals just keep coming for Kookas

A SEVEN-GOAL haul in the last 20 minutes of Australia's Champions Trophy clash against Spain yesterday secured the Kookaburras a spot in today's gold medal final against Germany.

After the scores were two apiece at half-time, the Kookaburras thrashed Spain 10-3 and set a record for the most team goals in a single match for the tournament.

The win in Melbourne also gave the host team a chance to win back-to-back titles today, which would be Australia's 10th Champions Trophy victory, should it win against the only side it has failed to beat in the six-nation competition.

The Germans advanced to the final yesterday despite a 4-3 loss to The Netherlands in the game following Australia's win.

The clash against Spain began as an even tussle before Australian striker Grant Schubert finished off an Eddie Ockenden pass to register a goal at the 21st minute.

Three minutes later Spain evened the score off the stick of Eddie Tubau, before Rodrigo Garza somehow found captain Pol Amat with a reverse stick hit from centre midfield - beating three Australian defenders along the way - for an Amat goal that put his side a goal up.

Then right on half-time, Australian defender Luke Doerner sent a drag flick into the net to equalise.

Kookaburras captain Jamie Dwyer earned a penalty stroke four minutes into the second half after Spaniard David Alegre knocked his stick out of the way as he took a shot in the circle.

Striker Schubert made the most of the opportunity by scoring his sixth goal of the tournament, making him the highest scorer at the Champions Trophy.

A penalty corner to Spain, because Aussie Matthew Swann kicked the ball away after a free hit was awarded against his side outside the circle, resulted in an Alegre goal in the 42nd minute.

Then the fun started for Australia, with two goals scored in three minutes thanks to another drag flick to Doerner, before teammate Glenn Turner followed up with another, 53 minutes in, to give it a two-goal advantage.

With just over 11 minutes left, Fergus Kavanagh finished off a fine solo effort from Dwyer for a goal, before Dwyer himself decided he would slot one into the back of the net.

Kavanagh registered another goal, followed by Eddie Ockenden in the 68th minute before Turner scored the team's 10th goal two minutes later.

Dwyer said he was pleased the team had shot so many goals, but added that the result was flattering.

''It's obviously nice to score some goals and we haven't scored 10 goals for a long time, but they didn't play for the full 70 minutes and they're out of the competition so I guess that made it easy for us.''

He said he was impressed with the younger players' contribution yesterday.

''I guess they're leaning quicker about the pace of the game and about what to do and what not to do but we're all learning and that's the most important thing and I guess this tournament is really about this sort of stuff.''

Australian coach Ric Charlesworth said he was happy with the win against a side he knew would be critical for the team to get into the final.

But there was still work to be done, he added.

''I think for 40 minutes or 45 minutes a pretty even tussle,'' Charlesworth said.

''That more reflects the quality of the two teams. There was a bit of funny business at the end but that doesn't really mean anything in terms of the context of where these teams are.''

Spain's Rodrigo Garza said that while the result was disappointing for his winless side, ''the important thing is we showed that we can play good hockey in the first half''.

''After the tournament we can come back and we can play 70 minutes good.''

YESTERDAYENGLAND 4 d KOREA 2

AUSTRALIA 10 d SPAIN 3

NETHERLANDS 4 d GERMANY 3

TODAY10.05am: England (5th) v Spain (6th)

12.35pm: Netherlands (3rd) v Korea (4th)

3.05pm: Australia (1st) v Germany (2nd)

TV: Live on Fox Sports 3