VERY GOOD BUT TOO LATE from Peter Savage at the London Cup

It was too late to qualify for the final, but England salvaged some pride last night with a fairly comprehensive win over table leaders New Zealand.

To be honest, it was hard to see any major improvement in England's performance, but England enjoyed some of the luck that had gone against them in the previous two matches. Richard Mantell opened the scoring with a 17^th minute penalty corner conversion, followed by a second by Adam Dixon, playing for his 50^th cap.

Remembering the reverses of the previous days, Nick Wilson's goal for New Zealand early in the second half – his third in as many matches – gave cause for concern, but England hung on tenaciously to their lead. Rob Moore's goal in the last three minutes put the issue beyond doubt and the match ended 3-1 in England's favour.

In the other match Korea beat Belgium 3-1 to secure a place in this afternoon's final. England will play the losers in the 3^rd/4^th place match.

Table after completion of preliminary rounds:

1^st Korea 6 pts
2^nd New Zealand 6pts
3^rd Belgium 3 pts
4^th England 3 pts

PHOTOGRAPHS FROM YESTERDAY'S MATCHES WILL APPEAR SOON ON OUR PICTURES WEB SIT www.HockeyImages.co.uk.