Australia white wash England 4-0

SAMSUNG CHAMPIONS TROPHY, WOMEN, SYDNEY

Thursday 16 July 2009

WORLD RANKING POSITIONS: Australia 5, England 8

England were punished by Australia’s clinical set piece routines in today’s match at the 2009 Women’s Champions Trophy, going down 4-0 to the Hockeyroos in torrential evening rain in Sydney. 

Despite vocal support from a small pocket of supporters in the crowd, England found themselves on the back foot in the early exchanges and with the Hockeyroos having already passed up a number of opportunities, including a penalty corner two minutes earlier, they took the lead through Nicole Arrold’s penalty corner in the 13^th minute.  Soon after, Susie Gilbert came close to levelling the score for England but her effort from a penalty corner rebound missed the goal by a fraction and the Aussie crowd breathed again.

With 25 minutes gone, England captain Kate Walsh was hit in face and she left the field to receive treatment although she did return in the second half.

Meanwhile, with Australia pushing hard for a second, England goalkeeper Beth Storry continued her superb form of late with a good save from a 27^th minute penalty corner but she could do nothing as Casey Eastham eventually forced the ball beyond her at the third attempt to give the hosts a two goal advantage.

England continued to look to build play and after the second goal they enjoyed a spell of possession that resulted in their second penalty corner of the match but Chloe Strong’s effort was blocked by Eastham.

The second half began in heavy rain and just three minutes in Australia won their fifth penalty corner of the match which Nicole Arrold dispatched her second of the game, putting the hosts well in control.  A fourth goal followed in the 54^th minute when Australia’s Hope Munro picked up a well placed Eastham passed before slotting it past Storry for her first ever Champions Trophy goal.

Throughout the remainder of the match, England struggled to turn possession into any clear cut goal scoring opportunities and with the rain pouring down Australia ran out 4-0 winners. 

Speaking after the match a clearly disappointed coach Danny Kerry said, “We haven’t played that well here [today].  Our core skills are nowhere near where they need to be and Australia rolled us over.”

Captain Kate Walsh, now sporting a black eye and three stitches echoed her coach’s words: “We really, really gutted.  We got rolled over today. We need to go home and work hard; today was a bit of a kick up the backside.”

The result confirms that England will meet China in the fifth-sixth place playoff on Sunday, after they meet in their final pool match on Saturday.

Current Tables

England Squad for the Samsung Hockey Champions Trophy – Women 2009 Sydney

Caps and goals are updated after each match.