6 Feb 2009

Australian hockey men avoid defeat to lowly Belgium

11:33 am on 6 February 2009

The Australian Kookaburras just avoided a first-ever loss to Belgium in the opening match of their three-game hockey Test series in Canberra.

Winless from 14 matches against Australia, another defeat for Belgium appeared on the cards when the Kookaburras took a 3-0 lead into halftime.

But the visitors piled on four second-half goals to put their noses in front, before a 68th-minute penalty corner conversion from Australia's Luke Doerner forced the match to a 4-4 draw.