The England squad comfortably beat Malaysia this morning 3-0 , ( if any game can be comfortable in the heat and humidity of these early scheduled matches in the oppressive heat and humidity of the Maj Dhyan Chand National Stadium) ensuring a place in the semi-finals.
Yesterday's surprise defeat 4-1 at the hands of New Zealand,( one place below them in the current rankings) where yellow and green cards contributed to their defeat,had England needing a draw against Malaysia. In the New Zealand game, where the black sticks were simply sharper on the day, both Nicola White, Charlotte Craddock and Alex Danson had constantly pressed in the second half but their attacks were either broken down in the circle by a resolute New Zealand defence or shots on goal saved by an on form Kiwi Keeper. Unusually England's normally reliable short corner routines against the black sticks came to nothing and were all well defended.
Today against Malaysia, the England team did not have to rely on their short corner specialists and all three goals came in open play. Nicola White scored just before the break on 33 minutes, and, early in the second, first Alex Danson and then Georgie Twigg scored on 40 minutes and 46 minutes respectively. It was Georgie's ( still only 19 ) first senior international goal. After the game she said " "It's fantastic to get my first goal here at the Commonwealth Games", "It's even better that it has helped us get to the semi finals. The corner was practiced, I just got myself into the right place at the right time."
Refelcting on the game, Coach Danny Kerry said, ""I'm happy with how the girls managed to play in difficult conditions today," "Rather than coming at us to try and squeeze into the semi finals, Malaysia were trying to avoid losing by more than two goals so it was a case of seeing if we could break them down without being exposed on the counter attack. "We weren't as penetrative as I would have liked and we only had a few penalty corners but when we took a couple of risks going forward in the second half we got the goals."
It look slike England will now finish second in their pool unless Canada beat New Zealand by a sybstantial margin , and then they would play the top team from pool A, either South Africa or Australia. More to follow.
