Hockey: Reckinger penalises England's defence

England had to settle for a 3-3 draw in the second of their two Tests against Belgium at Canterbury yesterday, although they won the series 1-0 following the 2-0 victory on Monday.

Yesterday, after Ben Barnes had given England the lead in the 11th minute from their first penalty corner, the home side were guilty of sloppy defending, allowing the Belgians back into the game, with Xavier Reckinger scoring the first of his two penalty corner goals in the 20th minute.

Reckinger scored his second seven minutes after the break. The ball flew in off the underside of the cross bar before Mark Pearn, appearing in his 150th international, equalised in the 52nd minute at a penalty corner. Ben Hawes put England ahead at another corner seven minutes later, but Charles Vandeweghe found himself unmarked and slipped the ball past Jon Ebsworth for the equaliser.

ENGLAND: J Ebsworth (Teddington); R Todd (Reading), B Barnes (Reading); A West (Cannock), G Kirkham (Loughborough Students), J Bleby (Loughborough Students); M Jones (Cannock), M Pearn (Reading, capt), B Middleton (Cannock), J Grice (Southgate), J Clarke (Reading). Substitutes used: R Mantell (Reading), B Hawes (Surbiton), B Garrard (Surbiton), R Moore (Teddington), M Taylor (Cannock).

Belgium: C De Greve; X-C Letier; M Coudron, J Willems (capt), X Reckinger; T van der Balck, M Luyckx, J Toussaint, P Houssein, C Vandeweghe. Substitute: L Vandeweghe.