England defeats Hockeyroos by 2-0 and takes fifth spot in 2011 Rabo FIH Champions Trophy
The English women defeated Australia’s Hockeyroos by 2-0 for the 5th place play-off match played at the 2011 Rabo FIH Women’s Champions Trophy at Wagner Stadium, in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
This the first time that the English women defeated the Hockeyroos twice in any FIH World level tournament and more importantly they have confirmed their place in the next edition of the FIH Champions Trophy that will be played in Argentina in 2012.
The coach of the English side looked very pleased with their Champions Trophy campaign.
The Australian coach, Adam Commens showed some concerns regarding the finishing ability of Hockeyroos.
“I thought we dominated the second half. It was a game of two halves where they controlled the first half and we turned it around in the second half. Once again we had more circle penetrations, more shots on goal and more penalty corners but again we were
unable to score which has been a common theme,” Adam Commens, the Hockeyroos coach explained after the match.
“Looking back we’ve had quite a good week. We lost to Argentina but only 1-0, we drew twice early in the week against two good sides and then we’ve come through with three wins in the last few days. That’s a pretty strong performance when you look at it
like that.” Danny Kerry, the English coach, concluded after the match.
The match was played in a tight mode as both the teams had their chances, but it was England who scored the goals in both halves, while the Hockeyroos remained goal-less throughout the match.
In the first half, the English team was really on fire as they took the early lead in the 8th minute, when Rebecca Herbert made a wonderful strike at the start of the play. The Hockeyroos too had their chances, but they could not utilise these
chances and remained goal-less until the interval.
In the second half, the Hockeyroos looked very impressive in their defence as well as in their attack, but still they could not find the right way to the English net and misfired of a number of good shorts. However, the English women continued their struggle
throughout the time and once again broke through the defence line of the Hockeyroos where they were awarded a penalty-corner and Chloe Rogers converted it into their second goal of the match. The match concluded at the same score as 2-0 to England.
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