It may not be the World Cup final, but the 5th/6th place match was as good as for Jason Lees' boys in Monchengladach this afternoon. The seeds of recovery which seem to be apparent from the World Cup qualifiers onwards, have at last started to sprout. Their opponents this afternoon (Saturday) were Pakistan, perhaps stronger opposition than one would expect to face for the 5th place, but England fittingly had the lions share of the match. A count of penalty corners was heavily waited in England's favour, but weary limbs and a tight Pakistan defence meant that this route to victory was closed. Pakistan often looked dangerous. Fair made a couple of good saves, and managed to scamble away a ball that stopped temptingly a few inches in front of his pads. In the end it was Pakistan's lack of discipline that let them down. AMaqsood and Abbasi were both sin-binned, and it was whilst Abbasi was off the pitch that an untypical mistake by Saqlain gifted James Tindall the ball in the Pakistan twenty-five. Tindall passed to Martin Jones who slotted it into the net. There were three minutes left on the clock but they all count, and this single goal was enough to give England a well deserved victory. In the other place game played today, Netherlands took the 7th place ahead of New Zealand.
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