England in thrall as Dutch underline dominance

England 2 Netherlands 4

The Netherlands, World and Olympic champions, extended their unbeaten run against England to 22 dating back to Preston in 1990, when they won the second Test here yesterday, following up their 4-1 victory the previous evening.

Yesterday, in a fairly even first half in the middle field, the Dutch took the lead in the 15th minute when Piet Hein Geeris found himself unmarked at the top of the circle to slam the ball past Nick Taylor, who earlier had made three fine saves. England's first half efforts were limited to three attempts from Danny Hall which were cleared without too much difficulty.

The Dutch quickened the pace of the game after the interval, and further extended their lead three minutes into the second half. A series of mistakes led to Marten Eikelboon scoring and then six minutes later he won a penalty corner which Taeke Taekema converted with a low drag. Ronald Brouwer extended the Netherland's lead to four in the 55th minute before David Mathews' two late penalty corner strikes. England's lack of penetrating strikers was again very apparent, as was their slow build-up which failed to really make an impression on the massed Dutch ranks.

England: N Taylor; A Humphrey (capt), J Wyatt, T Bertram, R Todd; B Waugh; Manpreet Kochar, M Johnson; D Hall, M Pearn. Substitutes used: D Haydon, D Mathews, J Goudie, J Evennett, J Lewis.

Netherlands: G Vogels; E Jazet; S van der Weide, D van Weel, T Taekema; P-H Geeris, M Eikelboon, M Brouwer. Substitutes used: S Dreeman, R Brouwer, F Jiskoot, M Booij, M van der Struijk.

Umpires: J Heron & G Curran (both Scotland).