Devastated’ England lose narrowly in Commonwealth Games semis
AUSTRALIA 1 (0) Madonna Blyth 38 (PC)
ENGLAND (WOMEN) 0 (0) -
England captain Kate Walsh described a feeling of devastation at losing the bronze medal match to Australia by just one goal today after her side pressed the reigning Commonwealth champions for long spells but ultimately failed to convert their possession into goals.
A deflected goal from Australian captain Madonna Blyth from a penalty corner just after half time sealed the Hockeyroos' progress to Wednesday's gold medal match while consigning England's women to their third bronze medal playoff of the summer following their Champions Trophy and World Cup third place finishes.
With so much riding on the outcome of the match it was perhaps no surprise that things began cagily but England soon found their rhythm and created several opportunities.
Midway through the half Kerry Williams' deflection forced Hockeyroos' goalkeeper Rachael Lynch into a clearance and shortly after that the goalkeeper had to cut out a bouncing cross from the left. Alex Danson also came close, narrowly failing to connect with a cross from the right from Leicester's Hannah Macleod but the Reading forward's full length dive was just short.
Right at the end of the first half England were awarded two penalty corners in quick succession. From the first, Leicester's set piece specialist Crista Cullen hit the foot of the onrushing Fiona Johnson but she found the target from the second, although Australian goalkeeper Lynch was up to the task to keep it out.
Having offered little in the way of attacking threat in the first half, Australia scored early in the second from their first penalty corner of the match. Meeting Jessica Arrold's low flick on the penalty spot, Australian captain Madonna Blyth deflected the ball to England goalkeeper Beth Storry's left and Helen Richardson, standing alongside Storry, failed to get enough on the ball to keep it out after the sudden change of direction.
Storry dealt well with the Australians' next penalty corner, saving the initial effort with her glove before blocking the close range follow up to keep England in the contest.
As in the first period, England found their feet again, sending players forward and pushing the Australians deeper.
As the match entered its final ten minutes England attacked with sustained urgency and Australia packed their defence with ten players behind the ball. Nicola White's promising run was halted as she entered the circle on the right and the same player had to settle for a long corner after getting in along the left baseline with five minutes remaining.
By now, England were camped in the Australian 23 metre area and their hopes rose when Leicester's Laura Unsworth drilled a low cross in from the right that the Australian defence failed to deal. The ball fell to Reading's Alex Danson but she failed to adequately connect with her shot on the turn.
A scramble inside the circle in the final minute so nearly produced a dramatic late equaliser for England as first Unsworth was thwarted by Lynch on the near post and then Helen Richardson and White both went for the rebound. Neither though could make a connection and Australia held on for the narrowest of victories.
Afterwards, a tearful England captain Kate Walsh described a feeling of devastation at failing to progress to the bronze medal match.
"I thought we had a large amount of possession," she said. "They defended deep. It was about trying to get that final corner, that final goal. We're just devastated! We came here wanting to win gold, to make the final. We don't pay much attention to the rankings but we did come here as the top seeded team."
Head Coach Danny Kerry also pointed to the deep Australian defending that England struggled to break down.
"It's very difficult to score with 19 bodies in the circle. Australia had about four circle penetrations and didn't really threaten but unfortunately a weak penalty corner was deflected past Beth in goal. We need to understand that if teams don't want to play hockey against us then we need to learn to break them down. It happened in the World Cup and it happened here. I think when we become Great Britain for London we'll have a larger talent pool at our disposal."
As he has done throughout the tournament, Kerry expressed his displeasure at the way tournament organisers had arranged the scheduling of matches.
"You've got a women's semi final in the middle of the day and a seventh/eighth playoff match in the evening. If someone could explain that to me...anyone who schedules a semi final at this time of the day, you'd ask them to come out and play with the players.
"It's not a great advert [for hockey]. They've done the sport a disservice."
England must lift themselves now for their third bronze medal match of this summer following the Champions Trophy and World Cup.
The bronze medal playoff against either New Zealand or South Africa takes place on Wednesday at 10:30am (6:00am BST).
