AUCKLAND – A second half Jeremy Brockie strike put ten-man New Zealand on course to spoil China’s Olympic party until a late header from Manchester United forward Dong Fangzhuo held the gutsy Oly-Whites to a 1-1 draw in Shenyang on Thursday night.

Fangzhuo’s 87th minute equaliser was a cruel blow for a New Zealand side who may not have been expected to take the lead on the weight of possession but deserved to hang on to it through sheer grit and determination.

New Zealand took the lead in the 53rd minute when Brockie laced a first time volley past Qiu Shengjiong in the Chinese goal after the quietly influential Craig Henderson dinked a clever pass over the hosts’ defence.

It was the first open-play chance for the Oly-Whites but Brockie didn’t waste the opportunity to silence the 60,000 strong capacity crowd at Shenyang Olympic Stadium.

“You don’t get many chances at international level,” Brockie said, “so you’ve got to take them.”

New Zealand played most of the match a player short, losing Steven Old to a second yellow card after just 37 minutes, but never lost their composure on the way to claiming a share of the points on their Olympic debut.

Old’s raised arm help control a sharply rising ball outside the area and whether it was a lapse of judgement or a reflex action, a second yellow card was a harsh response from the Uruguayan official who dished out six cautions in the first half alone.

The centre-back will now miss New Zealand’s second Group C match against the Ronaldinho-led Brazilians on Sunday night, while three other Oly-Whites sit on yellow cards heading into the fixture.

China were firm favourites heading into the match but the weight of expectation did not appear to sit comfortably with the hosts, for while they started brightest and shaded Stu Jacobs men in the first half statistics, the longer New Zealand soaked up pressure the more it built on China.

New Zealand captain Ryan Nelsen applauded the way his predominately younger team-mates responded to the occasion and to the first half set-back of Old’s dismissal.

“The game went pretty much as we expected in the beginning,” said Nelsen.

“The first 25 minutes were hectic and they threw everything at us.

“The referee made a bit of a mistake and that meant we had to dig deep. But this group have an unbelievable team spirit and they were too proud to crumble.

“Hopefully they made a few people at home proud too.”

In a frantic opening, Han Peng blasted a fourth minute header onto the cross bar from Hao Junmin’s freekick and Jacob Spoonley was forced to save well at close range from Gao Lin just three minutes later.

Simon Elliott had the best chance for the Kiwis in the first half, but couldn’t extract quite enough bend on his 44th minute free kick to curl it inside Qiu’s upright.

Despite the numerical disadvantage, and a re-jigged 4-4-1 formation, the Oly-Whites produced sustained periods of pressure through territory and possession, with the 20 minutes after halftime New Zealand’s liveliest patch.

Chris Killen blasted a 64th minute free-kick around the wall to force a sharp save from Qiu while at the other end a telling tackle by Ryan Nelsen on Jiang Ning in his own six yard box was the pick of a resilient defensive effort that kept China at bay until Fangzhuo – a 78th minute substitute – broke New Zealand hearts with his 12 yard looping header.

New Zealand coach Stu Jacobs had nothing but praise for his team.

“In my 12 years as a coach I’ve never seen a performance like tonight’s,” Jacobs said.

“We were three minutes away from making history."

The result keeps New Zealand within two points of Group C leaders Brazil, who needed a 79th minute Hernanes strike to overcome nine-man Belgium in an earlier kick-off.

Photos: Getty Images

Men’s Olympic Football Tournament: Group C

Shenyang Olympic Stadium

Thursday 7 August 

Referee: Martin VAZQUEZ (Uruguay)

New Zealand 1 (Jeremy Brockie 53) China 1 (Dong Fangzhuo 87)

New Zealand: 1-Jacob SPOONLEY (GK), 2-Aaron SCOTT (14-Cole TINKLER 81), 5-Ryan NELSEN (Captain), 12-Steven OLD (6-Michael BOXALL 41), 3-Ian HOGG, 16-Sam JENKINS, 4-Cole PEVERLEY (13-Shaun VAN ROOYEN 79), 7-Simon ELLIOTT, 8-Craig HENDERSON, 11-Jeremy BROCKIE, 10-Chris KILLEN.

Substitutes not used: 9-Daniel ELLENSOHN, 15-Greg DRAPER, 17-Sam MESSAM, 18-Liam LITTLE (GK).

Coach: Stu JACOBS

Cautions: Chris KILLEN 24, Steven OLD 28/38, Ian HOGG 89, Jeremy BROCKIE 90+2

Red Cards: Steven OLD 38

China: 1-QIU Shengjiong (GK), 2-TAN Wangsong, 3-FENG Xiaoting, 4-YUAN Weiwei, 5-LI Weifeng, 6-ZHOU Haibin, 7-HAO Junmin (11-CHEN Tao 56), 8-ZHENG Zhi, 9-GAO Lin (15-JIANG Ning 55), 10-HAN Peng (17-DONG Fangzhuo 78), 12-CUI Peng.

Substitutes not used: 13-LU Jianjun, 14-WAN Houliang, 16-ZHAO Xuri, 18-LIU Zhenli (GK).

Coach: Ratomir DUJKOVIC

Cautions: ZHOU Haibin 23, LI Weifeng 24, FENG Xiaoting 45, YUAN Weiwei 90+2

Group C Standings

Team

 P W D L GF GA Pts
Brazil 1 1 0 0 1 0 3
New Zealand 1 0 1 0 1 1 1
China 1 0 1 0 1 1 1
Belgium 1 0 0 1 0 1 0

Story Provided by NZF Media. For Full story visit www.nzsoccer.com

Photos courtesy of FIFA Media. For more visit www.fifa.com