Hockeyroos inflict first defeat on England in Glasgow
28th July 2014AUSTRALIA 3 (2)
Jodie Kenny 12, 50 (PC, PC)
Emily Smith 13 (FG)
ENGLAND 0 (0)
England women suffered their first loss of Glasgow 2014 as they were downed 3-0 by defending Commonwealth champions Australia. Gold medallists at the last two Games, Australia lived up to their reputation as favourites in Glasgow as two Jodie Kenny strikes and one from Emily Smith decided the contest.
After beating Wales 2-0 in the other Pool B game this afternoon host nation Scotland have set-up a thrilling contest against England on Wednesday morning at 0900 with the winner of that game guaranteed a place in the semi finals. For Australia, they are safely through to the last four securing the top place finish in Pool B with four wins from four and an impressive goal record of 25 scored and 0 conceded.
England began brightly as birthday girl Susannah Townsend found Ellie Watton after a mazy run, but the latter's effort was well blocked by Australian keeper Rachael Lynch. Two quick scores, however, had England on the back foot as first Kenny converted from a penalty corner on 17 minutes, before Smith capitalised on a mistake from captain Kate Richardson-Walsh shortly afterwards. Maddie Hinch in the England goal was forced into a couple of fine saves from Kenny before the break, while Lily Owsley fired a shot just wide after some superb skill.
A green card for Laura Unsworth proved costly 13 minutes into the second half as shortly after she left the field, Kenny slotted home from another short corner. England kept pressing and earned two penalty corners of their own but on both occasions they couldn’t find the target – Sam Quek seeing an effort deflected behind. Georgie Twigg also made her return for England after missing their last game against Malaysia through the injury she sustained in the opening game.
Danny Kerry, England Head Coach
On the performance against Australia
“I was actually really quite pleased with the performance. Australia were better than us defensively and offensively in both circles but I actually felt for large periods of the game we were playing the more constructive hockey.
“The reality is that we need to be much tougher in both circles and their corner execution was superior to ours today.”
On facing Scotland next
“We have got to debrief this game and we need to play like we did today against Scotland and it will be a close game.”
Georgie Twigg, Hockey, Midfielder, speaking after the game today:
On England’s performance
“It is always a big game against Australia, they have been playing so well recently, but I think we put in a really good performance out there. It is disappointing to lose 3-0 but I think we are really gaining momentum, we put in a really good team performance and we can take that into the next game. It is small percentages that make such a big difference at the top level and hopefully if we meet them again we have those percentages in our favour.”
On her return from injury
“It is nice to be back on the field, I am still a little bit sore but obviously it is good to get out there and get the legs going. We have an important game against Scotland in two days time so it is all about making sure I am ready for that.”
On England’s final group game with Scotland
“If we can go in against Scotland and produce a performance like that then that would just be brilliant. We could have done with getting a few more corners today, against Malaysia they were working really well, and Australia were defending well with numbers so we need to open that up and get off some more shots against Scotland.”