Grand Masters Hockey World Cup- Cape Town, South Africa
ENGLAND SENIOR GRAND MASTERS
Day 1 Wednesday 15th September
England Senior Grand Masters 1 - Australia 0
A solid opening display from England Seniors produced an impressive start to the 2010 World Cup. Taking control from the push back England made a number of scoring opportunities before Gerald Wilkinson got to the by-line and crossed for Bill Warrender to open the scoring. More chances were created after the half time break but then England had to survive a series of Australian short corners 3 of which George Hazell managed to intercept before England ran out worthy winners.
England SGM 9 – Alliance-A 0
Following their opening win against Australia, England raised the standard by putting 9 goals past the Alliance-A without reply. with early skirmishes fairly even England stepped up a gear and were 2-0 up after 10 minutes with copybook efforts from Bill Warrender and John Land. Bill Warrender added a third before half time with a deflection into the roof of the net. A further 6 goals were added in the second half performance with Gerald Wilkinson (3), John Land (1) and David Wright (2) one from a short corner shot and the second a deflected touch from a very good Percy Steele reverse stick strike.
| Senior Grand Masters | |||||||||
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | P | Seed | |
| England | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 13 | 9 | 1 |
| Germany | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 9 | -5 | 3 | 3 |
| Australia | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 1 | 11 | 6 | 2 |
| Alliance A | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 20 | -19 | 0 | 4 |
England SGM seeded 1 played Germany seeded 3. Needing to maintain their 'goals for' advantage over Australia this was a disappointing game for England who were totally dominant but could only find the net once. With Mike Fripp a spectator in the England goal, England opened the scoring after 10 minutes when Andy Holden touched home a Gerald Wilkinson shot. For the remainder of the match desperate defence by the Germans continued to frustrate the England attack and despite numerous penalty corners and other scoring opportunities the final score remained 1-0
| Senior Grand Masters | |||||||||
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | P | Position | |
| England | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 1 | 24 | 15 | 1 |
| Australia | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 21 | 2 | 19 | 10 | 2 |
| Germany | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 11 | -6 | 4 | 3 |
| Alliance A | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 38 | -37 | 0 | 4 |
From this it can be seen that with only one game remaining at which 3 points can be gained that the foregoing positions cannot alter and that England are the winners and Australia the runners up.
Day off
Australia's hopes were raised
when they scored within seconds of thew restart but England were soon back
on the attack and the Australian keeper produced a couple of fine saves to
keep the Aussies in the game.
With time running out and England well in
command the final whistle meant that the World Cup belonged to England
having won all 6 matches, scoring 27 goals with 2 in reply.
