Pointless England Slump
England were beaten by the odd goal twice on a
very wet
opening weekend of the men's Champions Challenge
in Antwerp, Belgium. They went down 4-3 to
Argentina on Saturday and 3-2 to a poor Indian
side yesterday.
Coming into a major tournament with just one
match this year proved costly. The team lacked
unity and were guilty of poor marking and
indiscipline. After two of their five
round-robin matches, they are the only team
without a point.
Rajpal Singh was unmarked when he gave India a
28th-minute lead. England levelled when Ben
Hawes dribbled forward at a corner and laid off
to Richard Mantell who scored at his second
attempt. Dilip Tirkey put India ahead again
early in the second half, the ball flying into
the roof of the net off goalkeeper Nic Brothers'
stick. Another corner produced England's second
equaliser. Richard Mantell's shot was saved but
Jonty Clarke forced in the rebound from the
narrowest of angles. India snatched the winner
in the 54th minute, Prabobh Singh lobbing home.
"We are nowhere near where we need to be," said
England manager Peter Nicholson.
Coach Jason Lee was even more scathing after
Saturday's defeat. "We were rubbish," was his
comment after the loss to Argentina.
England's marking was poor and they twice had to
play a man down as Richard Mantell and Rob Moore
received suspensions.
England went ahead against the run of play after
13 minutes. The goal was originally credited to
Martin Jones but actually scored by Richard
Alexander. Jones admitted he failed to make
contact with his attempted deflection. Jorge
Lombi, the veteran Argentinian forward was once
again the scourge of England. He powered a shot
into the top corner after 18 minutes and Lucas
Rey followed up Lombi's next corner shot to
score. In between, Lombi was unmarked for a
simple tap-in. Again, poor marking saw Rodrigo
Vila put Argentina 4-1 ahead.
England came back well. Simon Mantell converted
a penalty stroke and Hawes coolly lobbed the
goalkeeper after a Richard Mantell corner-shot.
England could have saved the game against a
tiring defence, especially when Barry Middleton
had a one-on-one with the Argentinian
goalkeeper.
England's third match in the six-nation event is
tomorrow against New Zealand who top the table
after winning their two matches without
conceding a goal.
Pat Rowley