England cruise to victory over Canada
30th July 2014
ENGLAND 3 (1)
Ashley Jackson 25, 54 (FG, PC)
Barry Middleton 36 (FG)
CANADA 1 (0)
Scott Tupper 68 (PC)
England secured a place in the Commonwealth Games Semi Finals this morning with a comfortable 3-1 win over Canada on Thursday.
Barring a seven-goal defeat, England were always going to qualify for the final four but they made light work of seeing off the Canadians in their final group game. Ashley Jackson opened the scoring before the break, cleverly diverting in Barry Middleton’s driven cross and skipper Middleton then added a second immediately after half-time in the 36th minute.
Jackson added his second and England’s third halfway through the second period to take his tally for the tournament to seven and move him three goals clear at the top of the goal scorer table [see attached PDF for more information – please note this is current information]. England goalkeeper George Pinner saw his clean-sheet ruined at the death however as Scott Tupper bagged a consolation for the Canadians from a penalty corner.
Victory for England sets up a probable semi-final clash with Australia, the no.1 ranked side in the world and defending Commonwealth champions. England will be looking to improve on their last encounter with the Kookaburras who put five past them without reply in the group stages at the World Cup back in June.
Ashley Jackson, East Grinstead, midfield
On the victory:
“Canada are a physical side and the tighter they kept it for longer the better it suited them. A couple of early goals would have made it much easier for us but we were in control the whole time. You treat this game for what it is, the last group game, but at the same time it basically did not matter.”
On potentially facing Australia in the semi-finals:
“The next step for this group of players is to make a final, we are ranked fourth in the world and have been very much playing to that ranking, unable to make that next step to get the right result in semi-finals. It does not matter who we face, we are confident going into the Australia game, we have lost a few times but we have already beaten them.”
England Captain Barry Middleton, Holcombe, midfield
On the victory over Canada:
“We are very happy with that, we did what we set out to do which was control the game. It felt like it was comfortable the whole way through and we just kept on playing our game. We wanted to put out a performance that took our momentum into the semi-finals.”
On the probable semi-final clash with Australia:
"It should be fun (playing against Australia), that’s who you want to play in big tournaments. We have set our stall out over the last few years that we want to be in the big games and be in semi-finals. We are consistently making semi-finals with this group of players but we will go out there, give as good as we get and we have belief in the team that we can beat anyone on our day.”
On the team environment:
“I think a big part of elite sport is getting the culture right, giving people the best chance to perform to the best of their ability. The team environment is good, everyone is pretty casual and chilled but ready to switch on at the right time. It’s nice to be going into games feeling that it is not luck if you play well, it’s just what you do every game.”