Grand Masters Hockey World Cup- Hong Kong
ENGLAND GREAT GRAND MASTERS
England Great Grand Masters 6 - Scotland Great Grand Masters 0
England started their defence of
the Great Grand Masters World Cup in fine style with this convincing victory
over Scotland.
Due to the heat and humidity the game was played in quarters so as to
allow players sufficient opportunity to take on fluids and drape on cold
towels etc
With honours even in the first exchanges of play pressure soon built up on
the Scottish defence who were forced to concede a succession of short
corners. England finally broke the deadlock when Bill
Warrender snapped up a smart chance before the defenders could react. Peter
Ross then added a second deflecting the ball past the stranded keeper.
England were therefore 2 up at half time. Immediately after half time during
the third quarter England had something of a purple patch. John Sear moved
into the 'D' and found the net with a fine strike. Unfortunately soon
afterwards a Scottish defender instinctively but illegally used his hand to
stop a lifting ball from Gerald Wilkinson finding the back of the net. The
Scottish defender was yellow carded and John Longden safely put away
the ensuing penalty stroke. England added two further goals from Peter Ross
and Percy Steele. No goals were scored in the fourth quarter producing the
final result of England 6 - Scotland 0.
Goal Scorers: Warrender 1: Ross 2: Steele 1: Longden 1 (pen): Sears 1
England GGM 4 – Australia SGM 0
With England looking
for a good start, Australia were soon under pressure and were lucky to
survive an early cross shot from Gerald Wilkinson. Having survived the
initial flurry Australia threatened down the right and forced a short corner
which was dealt with by the England defence.
With England only making sporadic raids they nevertheless took the
lead from a well worked short corner when John Sears’ shot was turned in by
Bill Warrender.
Australia endeavoured to get back into the game but were unable to break
through the England rearguard.
On the resumption after half time the superior fitness of the England
side began to tell and Australia found themselves further in arrears when a
direct short corner strike from John Sear struck the backboard. With England
defence now dominant Australia found themselves under increasing pressure
conceding further goals from Percy Steele in open play and just before the
final whistle a fourth goal when Tony Jones deflected home a further short
corner strike from John Sear (It was argued that the shot was going in the
goal without any deflection from Tony Jones)
Goal Scorers: Warrender 1: Sear 1(or 2): Steele 1: Jones (perhaps 1)
England GGM 0
– Germany 0
With Germany having
lost to Australia, they were desperate to avoid defeat in this match and
goals were always going to be in short supply.
With the England attack warming to their task a number of short
corners were awarded but the goalkeeper was not troubled.
Germany found it difficult to penetrate the England defence and
although England created a couple of good chances in general defences were
well on top.
Following the half time break, England lost their early fluency and the
Germans began to find more space in midfield, moving forward and winning a
couple of short corners which were well defended.
With time running out, Germany pressed forward, giving England the chance to
threaten with breakaways but neither side was able to finish a move and the
match petered out into a hard fought draw.
England’s 4 year run undefeated finally came to an end at
the hands of Australia. Having played a very hard game against Germany only
16 hours beforehand and being pitted against a fresh Australian side and
playing mid morning with temperatures of 30 degrees plus and 75% humidity it
was always going to be a hazardous undertaking. The England squad was
further depleted by the absence of Percy Steele who needed 6 stitches in an
arm injury sustained in the match v Germany. With 2 minutes played England
conceded an early goal from a well taken short corner and from then on were
always playing ‘catch up’ against a side who were in no hurry. Although
England threatened briefly and had a couple of short corners the Australian
keeper was not called into action.
Moving into the second half an early chance fell to the Australians but the
shot went wide. With England desperate to get back into the game and
pressing from defence the game was settled when Australia broke into the
England ’D’ and scored the decisive second goal.
with time running out a tired England side were unable to break down the
resolute Australian defence and at the whistle Australia were clear winners.
England GGM
17
Japan
0
With England failing
to beat the Germans the second place in the final was now down to goal
difference between England and Germany. With the Germans holding a 2 goal
advantage and still having to play the delayed second half of their game
against Scotland it was important for England to get as many goals as
possible. Starting the game intent on achieving this objective England moved
into the lead within 4 minutes and goals followed at regular intervals with
a tally of 7 – 0 by the half time break. Within 13 minutes of the second
half and the score 11-0 the Umpires suspended play as an intense tropical
storm developed leaving most of the pitch inches deep in water. With all
participants taking shelter it became clear no further play would be
possible until later in the day and the remaining portion of play was
transferred to the adjacent pitch to restart at 1:45 pm. In spite of the
disruption England were quickly into their stride with 2 quick goals and 4
more were added to make England convincing winners and requiring Germany to
score at least 6 goals in the delayed second half of their match against
Scotland. Scotland only conceded 2 further goals and England therefore went
through on goal difference to their third consecutive final v Australia.
GGM World Cup Final
Australia 0
England 0
(after extra time) (Australia
won 6 - 5 penalty strokes)
In
front of a capacity crowd at the Hong Kong Football Club, England failed to
retain the World Cup they won at Leverkusen in 2006.
With Australia unbeaten in the pool stages, they took to the field
full of confidence but were the first side under pressure as England showed
their mettle and forced a short corner, but defences were well in control
and both England and Australia found it hard to penetrate the opposing 25.
With the temperature well into the upper 30’s both sides rolled
substitutes on and off to allow water replacement.
The game moved into the second period with both sides equally matched and
unprepared to concede any quarter to their opponents.
The whistle for the end of normal time came and the match moved into
20 minutes extra time in which a ‘golden goal’ would have decided the issue.
England needed to clear off the goal line and Australia had a scare
when the ball rebounded from a post.
With no sign of either side getting on top, it fell to a penalty stroke
competition to decide the outcome.
The score was now at 3.3 after the first barrage.
England finally succumbed when the final penalty of the second
barrage was wide of the post.
