Photo: Ashley Jackson fires off his first half goal against Australia.Things could hardly have gone worse for England on the third day of play in the Men's Champions Trophy here in Monchengladbach.
England faced Australia this afternoon, a worrying prospect in itself. The Australian results so far have been awesome – they had scored 15 goals in two matches – and they were at their scoring best when they struck twice in two minutes midway through the first half against England. It looked as if England might be facing the same rout that New Zealand had suffered on Saturday. But somehow, England steadied the boat and managed to respond before half time with a well taken penalty corner from Ashley Jackson.
The Australians had by far the better share of possession for much of the game, and a third goal just before the break gave England fans no grounds for optimism. But England fought their way back into the match and were finally given their reward when Jonty Clarke scored five minutes before the end of the game. The final score, 3-2, is Australia's narrowest win of the tournament so far.
If losing was not enough, the results in the other matches sink England to the bottom of the table. The shock result of the day was the defeat of The Netherlands at the hands of New Zealand. It has taken 20 attempts for New Zealand to win a Champions Trophy match, and their performance so far in this tournament had them earmarked for the wooden spoon, but goals from Simon Child, Andrew Hayward and Blair Hilton gave them the surprise 3-1 win.
In the final match of the day, Spain also pulled off a surprise win, against the hosts Germany, beating them 3-2. This leaves England as the only side in the tournament without a win.
Wednesday is a rest day. England next face The Netherlands, on Thursday evening.
Summary of today's results:
New Zealand 3 Netherlands 1
Australia 3 England 2
Germany 2 Spain 3
Table after three matches:
1. Australia 9 pts (+12)
2. Germany 6 pts (+4)
3. Spain 4 pts (-2)
4. Netherlands 3pts (-2)
5. New Zealand 3pts (-9)
6. England 1 pt (-3)
