ENGLAND MUFFS CORNER OPPORTUNITIES by Peter Colwill in Manchester

England's men are making heavy weather of avoiding relegation from the European Championships. Their 1-1 draw with Ireland in the first round of the play-offs for 5th to 8th place leaves them needing a draw with France to be certain of avoiding the bottom two places. In a typically dour lesser play-off match - England, for whom Barry Middleton was outstanding - shaded the match but the Irish, superbly marshalled by their captain Patrick Brown, denied them repeatedly. The Irish defence, who had drawn with Spain earlier in the tournament, took the lead in the 11th minute when John Jermyn rifled a penalty corner beyond the despairing dive of James Fair. It was a short lived lead because James Tindall restored parity three minutes later. Allowed time to turn, the Surbiton forward struck with a reverse stick shot from the top of the circle, which left David Harte standing. 19 year old Harte, who was described as "fantastic" by David Passmore, Ireland's coach, then proceeded to make a series of excellent saves, the one from a Middelton deflection having particular merit. Ireland might have taken the lead again at the start of the second half when Phelie Maguire robbed Richard Mantell and set up Mark Gleghorne, but the Loughborough man's shot lacked penetration. England increased the pressure but did not look like scoring from any of their six penalty corners except the last one in overtime, which Iain Lewers took off the line. Jason Lee, the England coach, expressed disappointment in his team's corners, describing the injection as slow and the shots as "muffed" but defended his choice of Richard Mantell as the number one striker.