Hockey: Britain's demise

The Netherlands. . .3

Great Britain. . . .0

THE NETHERLANDS, the world champions, advanced to Sunday's final of the NUM Champions Trophy here yesterday with a competent 3-0 win against Britain but will need to lift their game if they are to dethrone the Australians who they will also meet in the final round-robin game tomorrow, writes Bill Colwill from Amsterdam.

A confident Dutch side took the game to Britain in the opening minutes, going into the lead from their first penalty corner in the 10th minute. Suzan van der Wielen's gentle lob beat Tracy Robb who had been penalised for a clumsy tackle. Britain withstood further Dutch onslaughts to go into the interval just one goal in arrears.

British hopes were raised with a penalty corner two minutes after the interval but Sue Fraser's powerful drive was straight into the goalkeeper with the Dutch defence scrambling the ball clear. At the other end Robb saved well from Ingrid Appels at the expense of a long corner.

As the Dutch lifted the pace Appels sounded the death knell for Britain by setting up their second goal for Hanneke Smabers in the 51st minute. Frederiek Grijpma scoring the final Dutch goal with three minutes remaining from their second penalty corner.

Earlier Australia, with a cool display of finishing, claimed their final berth when they beat South Korea 4-0.

GREAT BRITAIN: T Robb (Glasgow Western); J Atkins (Bradford, capt); S Fraser (Glasgow Western), K Johnson (Leicester), C Cook (Hightown); M Davies (Sutton Coldfield), P Robertson (Edinburgh) S Wright (Slough); S Gibson (Trojans), J Smith (Chelmsford), L Youngs (Ipswich). Substitutes used: S MacDonald (Glasgow Western), A Swindlehurst (Clifton).

NETHERLANDS: D Touw; F Grijpma; I Appels, N Holsboer Capt., J Lewin; W Duijster, S van der Wielen, H Dijsselhof; H Smabers, M Wouters, C Vinke. Substitutes used: M Derks, I Evenblij, W Fortuin, L van Gent.

Umpires: Mi-Ok Lee (S Korea) and P Buckley (Australia).