SOUTH Africa’s men’s hockey side courageously went down 3-2 to Germany in the second match of the men’s four-nations hockey tournament at the Perth Hockey Stadium on Wednesday night. It was Germany’s second success against South Africa inside a week, following their 5-1 win in Sydney last Thursday. Germany took a comfortable half-time lead with goals by Bjorn Michel – his 100th in international company – and Christoph Bechmann in the 23rd and 27th minutes. South Africa surged back after the interval, equalising with goals by Greg Nicol in the 58th and 61st minutes. A blistering shot by Christian Wein in the 63rd minute enabled Germany to grab maximum points. South African coach Giles Bonnet, while disappointed with the result, said it isn’t as important as continually improving. “What matters more is that we are getting better,” he said. “We had enough of this game to get more than two goals. The pressure we were able to put on the Germans was very encouraging.”