Neither England nor Great Britain have ever beaten Australia in a Champions Trophy match although they have entertained some draws. Unfortunately England could not hold out long enough in today's game to change that statistic and went down 2-1 to the hosts.
England welcomed back Ali Wilson after a bout of sickness which had kept him out of the previous two matches. After soaking up the pressure from Australia early in the first half, a good run by Richard Alexander ended up with Ian Mackay putting the ball in the net to give England a 1-0 lead after 13 minutes.
Australia levelled on 21 minutes after their second penalty corner was switched and tipped in by Grant Schubert. Despite coming under lots of pressure in the next ten minutes England held out and had two penalty corners in the last five minutes. The first Jackson shot was tipped over by Middleton and the second saved by the Australian keeper. 1-1 at half time.
The second half saw both sides have opportunities early on. But it was another video referral that had the crowd slow hand-clapping after the time taken to make a decision. Australia had asked for a penalty corner but the umpire's decision stood. They did earn a penalty corner soon afterwards but their switch didn't work this time.
With 14 minutes remaining Australia looked as though they had taken the lead, but this time England put their referral to good use and had the decision overturned. However, there was no controversy about the goal they scored four minutes later when Des Abbott put the ball in the net to give Australia a 2-1 lead. England pressured hard but the last seconds ticked away when Australia won a penalty corner, the ensuing shot kept out by Fair to leave the final score 2-1.
Our photograph from Daniel Carson shows Ashley Jackson in action against Australia
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Controversy reigned again in the first game of the day as Germany overcame Spain 5-4, their winning goal coming after a video referral in the last minute.
Germany took a 2-0 lead with goals from Benjamin Wess and Jan-Marco Montag before Spain hit back through Eduard Arbos. Florian Fuchs gave Germany a two goal lead again but Xavier Ribas made it 3-2 by half time.
Goals from Eduard Tibau and Pau Quemada within ten minutes of the restart gave Spain a 4-3 lead until Fuchs made it level again with ten minutes to go. Right at the death though England umpire Hamish Jamson gave a free hit to Spain after he had deemed that a Matthias Witthaus shot which had crossed the line had first hit his leg. However, Germany used their referral and the video umpire decided that the goal should be given. 5-4 to Germany.
The second game of the day was a much quieter affair until the final two minutes. Korea were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty stroke after three minutes when their player was thought by some press to have been deliberately fouled in the circle. The resultant Korean corner was put wide. After eleven minutes though Roderick Weusthof made it 1-0 to the Netherlands from open play, but Korea's Eun Seong Hong struck back to level the score from a penalty corner before half time.
Both sides had opportunities in the second half but it wasn't until a great through ball to the captain John Ho Seo in the final two minutes that Korea took the lead and the points 2-1.
