The Black Sticks believe they are at their best with their backs against the wall and they are now firmly pinned against the barrier as far as their gold-medal hopes at the Champions Trophy are concerned.
They are still in with a chance of playing in Sunday's final but must now topple world champions Australia on Saturday to have any chance after they were beaten 3-2 by Spain tonight.
Shane McLeod's side have shown a penchant for the dramatic in this tournament after their 6-1 dismantling of Korea and then last-gasp 3-3 draw with the Netherlands on Tuesday night but they couldn't provide a repeat performance against Spain.
They froze when they took a 2-1 lead early in the second half and allowed a slick Spanish outfit, who will have their own claims of winning the title, to wrestle control of the match. They invited trouble by giving away possession deep in their own half and Spain took advantage, scoring the winner with less than five minutes remaining.
New Zealand targeted a top-four finish at the start of the tournament, and they will be guaranteed that, but it is an illustration of the progress they have made on the world stage that they realise they let a good opportunity slip.
"We are disappointed,'' Black Sticks coach Shane McLeod said. "We have the utmost respect for all those teams in the top six but I was disappointed we didn't do better. I think we can beat Spain.
"If we play well, we will get reward for that. That's encouraging eight months out [from the Olympics] because Spain will be a side who will compete for a medal. For us to be disappointed about a 3-2 at this point is pretty good ... but I would rather have been a bit disappointed and won 3-2.
"I think the game against Holland our backs were against the wall and we fought extremely hard. Today I thought we were at our worst when we were in the lead and that's not a characteristic I want us to have because I have an expectation we will be in the lead more than we trail games in the future.''
Tonight's result was a welcome one for the Netherlands, who were beaten earlier in the day by Australia 4-2, and they also have a chance to qualify for Sunday's final against the same opponent if they beat Spain on Saturday.
Australia coach Ric Charlesworth might have joked they could be bought to play poorly against New Zealand but he quickly jumped on suggestions they would put take their foot off the gas on Saturday.
They have dominated men's hockey for the last decade by being ruthless - they showed that at last year's Champions Trophy when they beat New Zealand 9-1 - and will take the same mindset into Saturday's game.
"It's very much in their mentality to be No 1,'' McLeod said. "You know that if you beat them you have brought your best game. They will beat teams by five, six or seven whereas other teams are quite happy for a 1-0 or 2-0 win.''
The Black Sticks would have been happy for any result and might have had visions of achieving that against Spain when they led 2-1 just 60 seconds after the restart when Blair Hilton converted from a clever run from Shay McAleese. But it only served to spark Spain into action and they dominated for most of the rest of the match.
They attacked at pace with a number of slick passing movements and the pressure finally told when Eduard Tubau scored with 28 minutes remaining. David Alegre grabbed the winner with less than five minutes on the clock as he darted into the circle and drove across Kyle Pontifex's goal.
