Pararoos humble in their defeat of Finland

In the early stages of the match Finland were tenacious getting the toe in often and frustrating Australia. Finland tried valiantly against the Pararoos, but had difficulty against the combinations of Menzies, Roche and Pyne.

In the early stages of the match Finland were tenacious getting the toe in often and frustrating Australia. Finland tried valiantly against the Pararoos, but had difficulty against the combinations of Menzies, Roche and Pyne.

Finland took the early ascendancy forcing a good save from Rookie Goalkeeper Jared Eiby. The number 9 Janne Helander from Finland shot from 28 m out for the ball to just be tipped wide of the post by Eiby.

This seemed to rattle the Pararoos into action with Barber being denied by the Finish Keeper Jaakko Seppala in the 13th minute.

Seppala made a number of good saves to deny the Aussies until probably the best combination of the match occurred when Menzies played Roche on the left, who played it back to Fairhall, to Pyne to set up Roche who made a wonderful third man run to slot past the keeper.

In the 16th minute Barber played Menzies who timed a good wall pass back for Barber to score his first of the match.

In the 21st minute a challenge on the edge of the box by Menzies on Laurila forced the referee to award Menzies with a yellow card and consequently will miss the next game against England.

At half time Menzies was substituted for Goodman and Williams for Atkins.

Goodman, after coming on, immediately made an impact down the right side and combined well with Pyne who tipped after a keeper fumble.

In the 56th minute Finland-s 16 year old Joni Berg was substituted for Taipale. The 16 year old had some good possession and showed that he will be a player of the future.

Australia now play England on Tuesday 28 June, 2:30pm (10:30pm AEST) at Achilles 1894 stadium.

Match Details: Pararoos 9 (Ben Roche 14- 33- 51-, David Barber 30- 35-, Chris Pyne 17- 19-, Brett Fairhall 26- 28) Finland 1 (Mikael Jukarainen 56-) Referee: Guido Gonzales (USA) Assistant Referee 1: Cristian Dobre (Netherlands) Assistant Referee 2: Bas Steinhauser (Netherlands) 4th Official: Jeron Manschot (Netherlands) Crowd: 300

Pararoos Starting line-up: 1. Jared Eiby (gk), 2. Ben Roche, 6. Chris Pyne, 7. David Barber (4. Scott Kennedy 42-), 8. Brett Fairhall, 9. Ben Atkins (10. Thomas Goodman), 11. Beau Menzies (3. Jack Williams 31-)

Substitutes not used: Sam Larkings, Jamie Paulsen

Yellow cards: Beau Menzies 21-

Red cards: Nil