Hockey: England lose the killer instinct

England 0 Netherlands 2

England, as they had done in their 4-0 win against Canada, started in a positive vein against the Dutch in their second game in the Korean Telecom Cup in Seoul yesterday, creating a lot of chances, but they could not recapture their cool finishing of the opening game. They were also thwarted by several fine saves by an on-form Dutch goalkeeper Daphne Touw.

In a highly entertaining game, the difference between the two sides boiled down to the Dutch converting two of their five penalty-corner attempts while England wasted seven and also failed with a penalty stroke.

After an even first half in which both goalkeepers made a number of brave saves, the Dutch opened the scoring two minutes after the interval. England were caught by a well rehearsed penalty-corner drill from the Dutch with 22-year-old Dillianne van den Boogaard finishing off a clever move.

England responded positively and were awarded a penalty stroke in the 45th minute when Mandy Davies' shot was illegally stopped on the goal- line by a defender. Karen Brown put the stroke wide.

Hilary Rose continued her world-class form in the England goal with an excellent save at another Dutch penalty corner, but was unable to stop Hanneke Smabers scoring from the rebound in the 58th minute. After a rest day today, England face Australia tomorrow. Yesterday the Argentina captain, Karina Masotta, gave her side a ninth-minute lead against Australia which they defended until the 43rd minute before the Australians levelled the scores, going on to win 4-1.

ENGLAND: H Rose (University of Massachusetts); K Brown (Slough); J Empson (Canterbury), M Davies (Sutton Coldfield, capt), L Copeland (Slough); L Wright (Olton), K Bowden (Leicester), M Nicholls ( Slough); J Sixsmith (Sutton Coldfield), J Smith (Slough), T Cullen (Hightown). Substitutes used: D Marston-Smith (Clifton), J Mould (Leicester), P Miller (Leicester), C Voss (Leicester).

NETHERLANDS: D Touw; M Veenstra; W Duyster, J Deiters, D van den Boogaard ; H Smabers, C Thate (capt), I van den Broek; F van de Kieft, E Kuipers, S van der Wielen. Substitutes used: M Teeuwen, M Donners, A Boomgaardt, M Smabers.

Umpires: P Buckley (Aus) & Zhang Jun (China).