Hockey: England rue missed chances

A disappointed English coach, David Bunyan, summed up England's 2-1 semi-final defeat at the hands of Germany: "It's the old story of not taking your chances.''

A disappointed English coach, David Bunyan, summed up England's 2-1 semi-final defeat at the hands of Germany: "It's the old story of not taking your chances.''

After a disappointing first half, England did enough after the interval to have secured a place in today's final rather than a bronze medal game against the Dutch which they now face.

Sebastian Draguhn put Germany ahead in the eighth minute at a penalty corner. The Germans continued to dominate the exchanges, although England had their best period towards the end of the half but without threatening the German goal.

The second half started brightly for England with Darran Cheesman winning a penalty corner in the third minute following a persistent run. Matt Daly made no mistake for the equaliser.

Germany's winner came at a 51st-minute penalty corner conversion from Jan Marco Montag, the German captain.

Scotland were thrashed 7-0 by a very effective Belgium side to wave goodbye to any chance of appearing in next year's World Cup in Rotterdam. Ireland went down 3-2 to a golden goal from Poland with just seconds of extra time left.

European Junior Championship (Nivelles): Semi finals: Netherlands 2 Spain 2 (Spain won penalty shoot-out 3-1); Germany 2 England 1. 5th/8th play-off: Ireland 2 Poland 3 (golden goal); Scotland 0 Belgium 7.