England’s men playing in their first match in the Burlington Cup indoor tournament in Vienna today suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Austria. The host nation, who came sixth in the 2007 Indoor World Cup, opened the scoring with a goal in open play after three minutes off the stick of their star striker, Michael Korper. Korper went on to score a hat trick, as did Benjamin Stanzi, in this 11-0 defeat of England.
England’s women fared better against Austria. The Austrians took an early lead but goals from Sally Walton, Alex Scott and Emma Thomas put England in the driving seat at the break. Alex Thomas scored a second after the restart and a goal by Cathy Gilliat-Smith made the England total five. Two missed penalty strokes wasted opportunities to make the tally higher. Final score 5-3 to England. This is England women’s first win since returning to competitive indoor international hockey.
The competition resumes tomorrow (Friday) with England’s women playing Swiss club side Rotweiss Wettingen and the men playing Austrian club, Westend.
