MELBOURNE: Australia squandered seven penalty corners before edging England 2-1 to remain unbeaten after three rounds of the Champions Trophy hockey tournament on Tuesday.
Hampered by poor form at set pieces, the defending champions were forced to rally before denying England their first win and to stay on course for a place in Sunday’s final.
England led after 13 minutes with a goal against the run of play to Iain Mackay and Australia failed to convert their first penalty corner before equalising in the 22nd minute through Grant Schubert.
After a 4-0 win over South Korea and 7-2 win over the Netherlands in their first two games, Australia found England tougher opponents than predicted. England forced two penalty corners late in the first half, failed to convert either, but kept the hosts under steady pressure.
Australia had penalty corners in the 43rd and 47th minutes but couldn’t convert and were denied a 57th minute goal to Glenn Turner on the decision of the video umpire. Des Abbott finally gave Australia their narrow winning margin with a 60th minute field goal.
Seo Jong-ho scored two minutes from fulltime to give South Korea a 2-1 win over the Netherlands, boosting their chances of reaching Sunday’s final.
The teams were locked 1-1 at halftime after Roderick Weusthof scored for the Netherlands in the 11th minute and Hong Eun-seong equalised for South Korea from a 26th minute penalty corner.
Team captain Seo clinched South Korea’s second win in three matches at the tournament with a brilliant 68th-minute goal, deflecting a sharp pass high into the corner of the net.
‘Netherlands was very strong and they know our strategies very well so we didn’t get a lot of chances to attack,’ Seo said.
‘But I feel we were controlling the game. Actually, we were so tired in the second half and it was harder to attack but Netherlands made a lot of mistakes, so we were lucky to win.’
The Netherlands now have one win from three matches with two round-robin encounters remaining.
Germany striker Matthias Witthaus clinched a 5-4 win for Germany in dramatic fashion, and left Spain winless at the tournament, with a goal in the final minute.
Witthaus’ goal was initially ruled out by umpire Hamish Jamson, but Germany appealed to the video referee who overturned the on-field umpire’s decision.
‘I’m happy with the result although we didn’t have a good performance,’ German coach Markus Weise said.
Germany led after only two minutes with a goal by Benjamin Wess, and increased that lead four minutes later when Jan-Marco Montag scored with a drag flick from a penalty corner.
Spain pulled a goal back through Eduard Arbos, who finished off a slick passing movement from close range, but Florian Fuchs restored Germany’s two goal margin when he deftly deflected the ball past Spanish keeper Francisco Cortes.
Spain’s Xavi Ribas cut the margin to 3-2 at halftime, finding the bottom of the net from a penalty corner.
Edi Tubau levelled the scores just after halftime when he hit a reverse stick shot from a tight angle past German keeper Max Weinhold.
Spain seized the lead through striker Pau Quemada before Fuchs levelled the scores at 4-4 with his second goal.
Spain were disappointed that another close match got away, leaving it without a win from three games.
‘We’ve had good games overall, but a few moments of bad play in each game has affected the result,’ captain Pol Amat said. ‘This is very frustrating for us.’ —AP....LINK
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