England men lose out to Dutch in World Cup warm-up
15th May 2014As England continue their preparations for the World Cup in the Netherlands at the end of month the men’s squad are out in Dusseldorf, Germany, for a Four Nations tournament against the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.
In their first game at the 2014 Ergo Masters world number three side the Netherlands inflicted a 3-1 defeat on England. Simon Mantell was on target in the second half for England with a brilliant reverse stick strike, but two goals from Mink van der Weerden and one for Billy Bakker left England on the receiving end of a defeat.
For England captain Barry Middleton this match marked a special occasion as he walked out for his 200th England appearance.
As Adam Dixon continues to recover from an ankle injury Wimbledon’s Phil Roper is named in the squad for the tournament. Dixon has travelled with the team to Dusseldorf.
Speaking after the game England Head Coach Bobby Crutchley said, “It was a poor first half from us, but a much improved second period of 35 minutes. I’m disappointed with the result, but pleased that we upped our game. In the second half we were more dynamic in our movement ahead of the ball, which allowed us to create space and opportunity for more circle entries. There’s certainly still plenty of room for us to make progress this weekend as we look ahead to the second match against Germany on Saturday.”
The first half saw two goals from the Netherlands. The first, on 21 minutes was from the revered penalty corner expert Mink van der Weerden who fired his flick low into the bottom left corner past James Bailey in England’s goal. Ten minutes later, some loose defending from England allowed Billy Bakker space and time to turn and shoot from eight yards out, leaving Bailey with no chance, to take the score line to 2-0.
Crutchley’s half-time talk clearly made an impact and within four minutes of the restart England had halved the deficit thanks to some great play between Ashley Jackson and goal scorer Simon Mantell. Mantell received the ball on the edge of the circle from Jackson and smashed a brilliant reverse stick strike past Jaap Stockmann in the Netherlands goal.
Unfortunately England were unable to capitalise on their momentum from the goal and in the 51st minute van der Weerden was back on the score sheet as he fired home another clinical drag flick from a penalty corner to secure his side a 3-1 victory.
England’s next game is on Saturday at 14:30 against Germany.