England knock out Ireland, help debutants China survive

BHUBANESWAR: Even after conceding 11 goals to Australia in the first match of the day, debutants China made it to the ‘crossover knockout’ stage of the hockey World Cup. And they have to thank England for that. Commonwealth Games bronze medallists England got the better of 10th ranked Ireland 4-2 on Friday to show their neighbours the door, thus paving the way for China to enter the knockouts.

Australia, with nine points, topped Pool B and entered the quarter-finals directly. England, with four points, and China, with two, made it to ‘knockout’.

“We learned a lot from our pool game against Australia. We played pretty well in the first half today. Whenever there was pressure, we played really well. The momentum we built in the first The urgency was very much evident and aggression was the order of the day --- they were in attack mode from the very first minute.

England took the lead in the 15th minute and Ireland scored the equaliser in the 35th. Two minutes later England were again in lead, and in no time Ireland had levelled. The very next minute, England were leading 3-2. Four goals in three minutes brought the spectators on the edge of their seats.

With three minutes left, Ireland substituted their goalkeeper for an outfield player. But England earned a penalty corner in the last minute and Mark Gleghorne made no mistake. “Bitterly disappointing. We were in the game the whole time. Words can hardly describe the frustration. Unfortunately for us, one or two details didn’t go our way,” said Ireland’s Michael Darling.