England defeated Australia 3-2 in a dead rubber in the 5-8 pool at the women’s Champions Trophy field hockey here Friday and they will play off again Sunday for fifth place. The earlier 4-1 result by Germany over China created the dead rubber for Australia and England as neither Germany nor China could head Australia or England in the pool.
Danny Kerry, England coach, agreed the dead rubber changed his tactics. “We talked about the dead rubber before the match and adopted Plan B tactics but Sunday will be a different game as Australia will come out with the fire in their belly,” Kerry said.
Kate Walsh converted England’s third penalty corner chance with a low flick which deflected off a defender. England resisted Australia’s attacks for the remainder of the first half. Marnie Hudson connected with Jayde Taylor’s pass into the circle for Australia’s equalizer early in the second half. Minutes later, Anne Panter put a soft backstick into goal for England to break the deadlock.
Nicola White deflected in Alex Danson’s cross to the right post to put England 3-1 ahead late in the second half. Marnie Hudson clawed one back for Australia, getting a rebound off Casey Eastham’s strike to the pads of England goalkeeper Maddie Hinch in the last minutes for the 3-2 scoreline.
Adam Commens, Australia coach, agreed the dead rubber influenced the outcome. “Neither team wanted to show anything as we are playing again Sunday for fifth place,” Commens said. “There is more work to be done to improve Australia’s skills as we are a long way behind the way Argentina and Netherlands move the ball around in defence,” Commens said.
Germany swamped China 4-1 and will play each other again Sunday for seventh place. Germany started brightly with four shots on goal in the first five minutes and Celine Wilde converted Germany’s fifth chance. China was competitive in the first 20 minutes, applying pressure to Germany’s circle and Gao Lihua scored off work by skipper Li Hongxia along the right backline.
Janne Meuller-Weiland set up Maike Stoekel’s goal early in the second half with a drive into the circle for Stoekel to deflect into goal to move Germany ahead 2-1. Germany dominated the midfield and China’s defence was in disarray in the second half.
Germany capitalised on China’s disarray with a penalty corner conversion at the right post by Marie Maevers and a second goal field goal to Celine Wilde. China came back in the last 10 minutes using its superior fitness to run through gaps and create scoring chances by Li Hongxia and Song Qingling, without success Kim Sang-ryul, China coach, conceded Germany was the better team. “Germany was too strong for us and our defence was not organized,” Kim said.
“My players need more fighting spirit,” Kim added vehemently. Michael Behrmann, Germany coach, takes comfort from the way Germany is playing.
“We created good chances early in the game and I am happy with the way we are playing,” Behrmann said. “We can look forward to playing with the same spirit in our last match against China here,” Behrmann added. The top four teams play Saturday to determine the finalist as South Koreaplay Netherlands and Argentina meet New Zealand.