England's men fell to a first defeat at the Hockey World Cup in Bhubaneswar with a 3-0 loss against defending champions Australia.
Phil Roper swept the ball against the post midway through the match, but Danny Kerry’s men couldn’t find a decisive goal to rock the world’s best ranked side.
The Kookaburras rallied in the last quarter to claim the three points and leave England needing results to go their way to progress with a crucial showdown with Ireland on Friday. Kerry was able to take the positives from the performance as England attempt to better their successive fourth place finishes in the competition. "We competed well, particularly in the first half," he said. "Credit to Australia for taking their chance in the fourth quarter to go 1-0 up. "We'll look forward to the opportunity that the final game presents us."
Australia almost took the lead midway through the first half, but George Pinner was at his best to deny the Southern Hemisphere side from successive penalty corners.
England then had the best chance of the first half only seconds later as they broke up the other end and Roper agonisingly struck the post from close range.
Shots continued to rain down on the Australians as Liam Ansell went close with a fine volley, before Tyler Lovell was forced into a neat save to keep out Mark Gleghorne from England’s first penalty corner on the brink of half time.
With chances few and far between in the third quarter, the Kookaburras eventually got their breakthrough with a stunning move down the right side that was finished off impeccably by Jake Whetton.
Australia’s Blake Govers doubled the lead just four minutes later before Corey Weyer sealed the points for the three-time World Cup winners to progress to the knockout stages.
England need results to go their way to progress with China and Ireland still to play to stand a chance of reaching the crossover phase. Sportsbeat 2018