Women's Hockey World Cup: England beat Germany 3-1 to earn first points of campaign
Wednesday 11 June 2014 14:00, UK
England’s women ended their World Cup campaign on a high with a 3-1 victory over Germany – but still finished bottom of Pool B.
England went into the game on the back of four defeats but held Germany to a goalless first period at the Kyocera Stadion before opening the scoring via Hannah Macleod in the 44th minute.
Susie Gilbert then added a second on 49 minutes and Susannah Townsend struck a third on 55 minutes to hand Jason Lee’s team a commanding lead.
While Hannah Krüger notched a consolation for Germany soon afterwards, England held on to earn their first points of the tournament.
They will next take on Belgium on Thursday in the 11th and 12th place play-off and a relieved Gilbert said afterwards they would now take momentum into that clash after finally getting off the mark.
We’ve obviously been bitterly disappointed throughout the last ten days but it was extremely nice to get that win finally.
Extremely nice
She told Sky Sports: “It was the win we’ve been looking for all tournament.
“We’ve obviously been bitterly disappointed throughout the last ten days but it was extremely nice to get that win finally.
“We need to focus on the task in hand, recover well tomorrow and then really take it to Belgium, play with no fear like we did going forward and then defend so diligently like we did in that game.”
South Africa finished on the same points as England after a 4-2 defeat to United States, who are through to the semi-finals.
Argentina also made it through to the last four of the women's competition thanks to 1-1 draw with China in their final Pool B fixture.
In the men’s tournament, the Netherlands advanced despite being held 1-1 by New Zealand, Simon Child responding for the Black Sticks after Valentin Verga's early strike.
The result means the Netherlands will take on Great Britain in the semi-finals on Friday.
Gonzalo Peillat and Lucas Vila both hit braces as Argentina thrashed South Africa 5-1 in Pool B to book their place in the last four, where they will face Pool A winners Australia.
Germany finished third in Pool B, ending their campaign with a 6-1 rout of South Korea.
