Hockey: England warm to World Cup task

England 1 Poland

David Mathews, with a 54th minute penalty corner conversion, gave England the narrowest of wins in their opening World Cup game here yesterday after both sides missed a string of simple chances.

Despite the 8.30am start the temperature was already in the low 80s. England's coach, Malcolm Wood, was pleased with his side's performance: "We stuck to our game plan and I was pleased with our composure when we went down to ten men," he said. "We created many chances and ought to have done better."

England's first chance came in the fourth minute when Jerome Goudie missed a wonderful opportunity. After the interval Mark Pearn's mesmerising drives won a number of penalty corners, with Mathews scoring from the fourth. That spurred the Poles on. The departure of Jon Wyatt in the 60th minute for little more than a clumsy tackle on Tomasz Choczaj gave them further encouragement but Simon Mason made two exceptional saves as England held on.

England: S Mason: B Garrard, J Wyatt, T Bertam, C Parnham (capt); J Goudie, M Johnson, G Fordham; J Wallis; D Hall, B Sharpe. Substitutes used: B Waugh, D Mathews, M Pearn, M Jones, R Todd.

Poland: M Chyla; Z Juszczak; D Malecki, R Grotowski, S Choczaj; T Spalek, E Gaczkowski, M Juszczak; T Choczaj, A Mikula, R Grzeszczak (capt). Substitutes used: M Strykowski, M Wichlacz, L Wybieralski.

Umpires: E Saladino (Arg), J Wright (SA).