England played their last Pool A match
in Vienna this morning against the World Champions, Germany.
This is a bitter-sweet tale because
seldom have I seen an indoor team in England colours play as well as
this one has, but the record will show three games, one draw and two
defeats. And with it, of course, comes finishing bottom of Pool A and
the prospect of playing in the relegation league, the first match of
which is later today.
The hero of the hour has to be Sam
Ward. In this and in the two previous matches he has made us wonder
why he is not in Delhi with the full England squad. His four goals,
two of them before the Germans could find the net, accounted for half
of England's not inconsiderable tally.
It was not until the closing stages of
the match that England seemed to lose touch with their opponents.
Although they had gone behind 13 minutes into the match, A Chris
Griffiths goal brought the sides on even terms at 3-3. The Germans
went ahead 5-3, but Ward was able to peg them back to a one goal
lead. The German's scored again, but two goals from Simon Egerton
and one from Ward put England into a 6-7 lead. These are the World
Champions they are playing remember.
The Germans scored twice more to retake
the lead. David Becket equalised with three minutes left on the
clock. But two more German goals as the time ran out left a final
score of 10-8 to the Germans.
England now play Sweden in the first of
the relegation pool matches. Russia's pool position means that they
qualify for the semi-finals, so England will not have the benefit of
the point earned when the two sides met in the Pool. Sweden deserve
to share with England the title of unlucky losers. Both sides have
played a good tournament, and it will be a difficult match for both
sides.
PICTURES OF THE MATCH BETWEEN ENGLAND
AND GERMANY ARE AT www.HockeyImages.co.uk.
