Hockey: Luckes out of good fortune

GERMANY won their seventh successive gold medal in the European Indoor Nations Cup here yesterday with a clinical 9-2 win over England in the final which took their international record to 89 games without defeat, writes Bill Colwill from Bonn.

After a promising start and stout defending, in which the goalkeeper David Luckes continued with another fine display, it was not until the ninth minute that England succumbed to two goals inside a minute. Andreas Becker collected a pass from Michael Waldhauser to push the ball past Luckes. The second, from Freddie Ness, was a cruel blow.

Fortified by two goal-line saves by Jason Laslett, the captain, England were still prepared to take the game to the Germans. Waldhauser then put the Germans three ahead before Nick Thompson struck for England for a 3-1 interval scoreline.

The end for England came 30 seconds after the break when Christian Blunck collected the first of three goals, and Becker and Waldhauser scored again as Thompson netted his second. Ness completed the scoring.