A bit of magic from Mantell & Gleghorne seal England victory
2nd June 2014
ENGLAND 2 (1)
Mark Gleghorne 27 (PC)
Simon Mantell 69 (PC)
INDIA 1 (1)
Dharamvir Singh 30 (FG)
England left it late, but a brilliant winner from Simon Mantell in the 69th minute against India sealed them a 2-1 victory in their second Pool A match at the Rabobank World Cup in the Netherlands.
Prior to the tournament Head Coach Bobby Crutchley had warned of the improving India side, who have been in a rebuilding phase under the new leadership of Australian Terry Walsh who has previously coached Australia, the Netherlands and Malaysia. And they certainly pushed England all the way.
The first half saw two goals in quick succession. Firstly England’s Mark Gleghorne unleashed a fierce drag-flick in the 27th minute to make it 1-0, but the lead only lasted three minutes as Dharamvir Singh equalised to bring the scores level at half-time.
The second half saw both teams searching for the winner, but it came down to the 69th minute and Reading’s Simon Mantell to fire home a fantastic reverse stick shot from a penalty corner rebound after a world class save from P R Sreejesh in India’s goal.
In the other pool matches of the day Australia beat Spain 3-0 and Belgium put six past Malaysia with only two in reply.
Iain Lewers did not play today after suffering a dead leg in last weekend’s game against Australia.
Quotes – England’s match winner, Simon Mantell
On scoring the winning goal: “You don’t have time to think, the ball just dropped and I knew I had to get a good connection on it and fortunately it went in. That might be the most important goal I’ve scored for England. Goals at the end of a game when you’re level always feel important. The main thing is the three points, though. It was crucial we got the win.”
Quotes – England Head Coach Bobby Crutchley
On England’s performance today: “It was an incredibly tight game that could easily have gone either way. I thought India played very well, put us under pressure and negated us. We were a bit sloppy in some of our play but in the end we’re delighted to have got the win.”
On Ashley Jackson’s injury: “Ashley’s got a problem with his shoulder. As you can see he’s not flicking the ball. The one he did flick caused some pain. You have to feel for the Indian goalkeeper. That was one of the best saves I’ve seen and yet the rebound still ends up in net. Hopefully with two more days off, Ashley can recover in time for the Malaysia game.”
Quotes – England Captain Barry Middleton
On England’s performance and staying focussed: “It was a tough game and was hard work for both sides. We were a bit sloppy in the first half and we were upset at half time with the way we were playing. Our use of the ball wasn’t how we wanted it to be, but the second half we felt better and felt like we had more control. We battled hard and even when we don’t play at our best we want to be hard to beat and able to grind out results. That’s how you get through tournaments and we’ve shown that today. We rode our luck at times but we fought to the end.”
“For a team who’s quite young and still growing in world hockey we showed a lot of control and composure to score a goal late on and then see the game out.”