By Carl Markham, PA Sport

The world's best exponent of the penalty corner Sohail Abbas displayed his full repertoire as Pakistan comfortably claimed the bronze medal.

He drag-flicked five out of five and was the difference between the sides - as is so often the case - as he moved on to 171 international goals in only 138 games.

But he missed the chance to claim a sixth as a penalty stroke with a minute to go crashed back off the crossbar before the keeper had chance to move.

Abbas' goals tally was the best individual performance at the Manchester Games and took him second in the top scorers list with nine from five games.

Abbas began the tournament by scoring three out of four set-pieces against England but since then has been kept relatively quiet by the other teams.

However, he rediscovered his form just in time to save his side further embarrassment following their shock 7-1 hammering by New Zealand in the semi-final.

The first went in after just 11 minutes - an 85mph-plus rocket into Chris Hibbert's top left-hand corner - before Muhammad Nadeem added a second moments later.

Gregg Clark pulled one back from a 25th-minute South African penalty corner and the Springboks were right back in it when Emile Smith forced in another set-piece.

Abbas then stepped up to flick one high and one low in the space of two minutes as Pakistan led 4-2 at half-time.

He added a further two after the break with Mudassar Khan, who had earlier missed a penalty stroke while Abbas was off the field injured, Kashif Jawad, Ghazanfar Ali and Muhammad Shabbir all getting on the scoresheet.

Pakistan coach Tahir Zaman believes the only way to beat the world's number one penalty corner specialist is to break his mental concentration.

Sohail Abbas powered in five from five penalty corners in the best individual performance in the tournament, taking his tally to nine in the competition and 171 in only 138 games.

However, his opening game hat-trick against England apart, most other sides have managed to keep him quiet.

"Sohail is our strength. He is our weapon - secret and open as well - and we are using him as much as we can," said Zaman.

"He is one of the best flickers in the world and when he is in good touch he scores goals for the team.

"But teams who build up pressure by bringing up the goalkeeper and two defenders slightly confuse the flicker.

"When you can disrupt the mental concentration then you will be successful and that that is why we have to work on variations on those type of defensive strategies."

Zaman was delighted his side bounced back from their shock 7-1 semi-final trouncing by New Zealand to claim the bronze medal in emphatic style.

"Our forwards built up some very good moves. That is a very good sign and we should keep up the tempo," he added.

"The players were not able to implement our strategy in the game against New Zealand. That was a totally bad day.

"It was a wake-up call and I am very happy with the boys. They do have the capabilities to display very good hockey and that is what they showed today.

"The players are trying to win back their pride but it will take time."