Dutch defeat for England Under-18 Boys
19th April 2014AFTER beating hosts Germany the previous day, England Under-18 Boys were brought back down to earth with a bump on Saturday when they were beaten 8-1 by the Netherlands at the Four Nations Tournament in Mannheim on Easter Saturday.
A goal after just 38 seconds set the tone for the rest of the match, and although England did play well for periods they were no match for the Dutch.
“Considering the good performance in our first match we’re upset about this result,” said Head Coach Jody Paul. “We got off to a very bad start and for the first 15 minutes we weren’t in it at all.
“We got back in to the game and played reasonable hockey up to half time, but we didn’t finish anything off and the Dutch were simply better than us.
“It’s a big learning curve for the boys after the high of the previous day, but we now have to regroup and get ready for the next match.”
The Netherlands were 3-0 ahead by the break, and extended this to 6-0 by the 53rd minute. Mat Ming missed a penalty stroke on 55 minutes, before the Dutch added another.
Harry Skinner scored for England from a 68th minute penalty corner, but the Netherlands had the final word with an eighth goal on 69 minutes.
England Under-18 Boys take on Belgium in their next match on Easter Sunday (11am BST).