Bobby Crutchley insists his young side now have a taste for silverware after England pipped Australia to Hockey World League Final bronze.
After losing to New Zealand in a shoot-out in their semi-final, England faced off against Australia with the winner taking home the bronze medal.
And it was England who ensured they didn’t head home empty handed, Tom Carson and captain Barry Middleton grabbing a goal either side of half-time for a 2-1 victory – Glenn Turner striking in between for the Kookaburras.
This was England’s first victory over Australia since 2010, which also came in the same stadium in Delhi at the World Cup.
And there was even more for England to celebrate at the final whistle as George Pinner was handed the Goalkeeper of the Tournament award, leaving head coach Crutchley to toast a job well done in India.
“I’m delighted with the result and the tournament as a whole,” he said. “Getting a bronze medal is really nice for this group as they continue to make the right strides and they are definitely hungry for more.
“The attitude of the players has really impressed me and I wanted to pick out Michael Hoare and Henry Weir, who I think given their relative inexperience have both had really good tournaments, making vital tackles in key moments.
“We had to take a bit of pressure from Australia, we didn’t play as well as I’d like us to at times which meant we spent a lot of the first half defending.
“However, we still managed to look dangerous when we had the ball and with an improved second half performance we took our chances better than they did.”
© Sportsbeat 2014