Hockey: England target

England Under-21. . 3

Scotland Under-21. .0

ENGLAND achieved their first objective in the BMW European Junior Cup here last night when they reached the semi-finals by beating Scotland in a typically fierce contest. They now need to beat the Netherlands this evening to ensure that they top their pool and thus avoid meeting the powerful Germans before the final.

In a first half in which England, playing attractive hockey in midfield, failed to take advantage of a number of good creative moves, it was Scotland who should have opened the scoring from three early penalty corners.

Havant's goalkeeper, Jimmy Lewis, deputising for Simon Mason, denied Gordon Moore a goal which might have jolted England from their complacency.

After Lewis had made another couple of good saves, England took the lead in the 19th minute. With Scotland reduced to 10 men after the temporary suspension of Andrew Milne for a crude tackle on Jon Wyatt, it was Wyatt who found Jon Hauck, the winger then sending Duncan Woods away for a well-taken goal.

The switching of Rowan Davis to right half after the interval disrupted England's attack, giving Scotland their best 10 minutes during which Gordon Moore and Simon Balchin went close. At the other end, meanwhile, Hauck sent Peter Gibbins away for a repeat of his goal on Sunday against Switzerland - a cracking shot into the roof of the net.

England then survived another difficult period following the suspension of Ben Cope until, with just three minutes remaining, Bill Waugh blasted past Stevenson following the award of his team's seventh penalty corner of the match.

ENGLAND UNDER-21: J Lewis (Havant); A Humphrey (Welton), B Waugh (Southgate, capt); B Cope (St Albans), J Wyatt (Reading), N Conway (Doncaster); J Hauck (Teddington), P Gibbins (St Albans), D Woods (St Albans), S Nicklin (Slough), R Davis (St Albans). Substitutes: C Giles (Havant), P Way (Slough).

SCOTLAND UNDER-21: A Stevenson (Inverleith); A Milne (Gordonians); C Wood (Gordonians), D Cunliffe (Havant), R Souter (Harris Academy FP); P Webster (Gordonians), A Sword (Grange, capt), D Ralph (Kelburne); S Balchin (Grange), R Freeland (Gordonians), G Moore (Kelburne). Substitute: A Hay (Edinburgh CS).

Umpires: V Wonig (Ger), F Caballero (Sp).

BMW EUROPEAN JUNIOR CUP (Vught, Netherlands) Pool B: Netherlands 3, Switzerland 0; England 3, Scotland 0. Positions (after two games): 1 Netherlands 4 pts; 2 England 4; 3 Switzerland 0; 4 Scotland 0.