Hockey: Australia's late blitz nets indoor title

Australia, on their way to Leipzig for next month's World Indoor Finals, took the honours in an exciting 7-4 final against the Netherlands to win the World Classic Indoor Invitation Tournament in the Kelvin Hall, Glasgow yesterday. Scotland finished a disappointing fifth out of the six nations.

After Australia and the Dutch had opened with a 5-5 draw on Friday evening and finished the round robin stage of the event equal on 10 points, with the Dutch taking top spot on goal difference, the final was always going to be an exciting contest. The Australians raced into a three goal lead, the Dutch fought back and were level at four each with just three minutes remaining before the Aussies surged ahead again with David Hicks executing a neat lob over the Dutch goalkeeper and Mark Harris scoring twice in the dying seconds to secure victory.

The Higgins Group English National Indoor League opened in style with Slough Ladies and Loughborough Students making major strides in the defence of their titles.