Hockey: Garcia lifts England to thrilling victory

HOCKEY: England 2 Pakistan

RUSSELL GARCIA, making his 276th international appearance, fired England into their first win of the Champions' Trophy in here on Tuesday, when they beat Pakistan 2-0 in a thrilling encounter to collect their first points of the tournament.

England started in confident fashion and dominated the game until, in the 30th minute, Mark Pearn won their third penalty corner. Garcia returned the ball to Jon Wyatt, the injector, to beat the goalkeeper from close range. A few minutes earlier only a great save from Simon Mason had denied Kashif Jawad a goal for Pakistan.

Ten minutes into the second half, a couple of minutes after Mohammad Shahbaz had missed an open goal for Pakistan, England went further ahead. Pearn ended a good run with a shot saved easily by goalkeeper Mohammad Oasim, only for the ball to rebound to Jimmy Wallis, who slammed home England's second.

There were many hectic moments for England before the final whistle with a string of fine saves from Mason combined with some heroic defending. England's coach, Barry Dancer, said: "Today we got a reward for four games of effort. There was a degree of discipline in our game that will need to be taken to another level against the Netherlands on Friday."

Earlier Australia qualified for Sunday's final despite being held to a 1-1 draw by South Korea. Both teams will meet again in Sunday's final.

ENGLAND (4-3-3): S Mason (Reading); M Johnson (Cannock), J Wyatt (Reading), T Bertram (Cannock), B Waugh (capt, Southgate); R Garcia (Harvestehuder, Hamburg), B Garrard (Teddington), J Wallis ( Teddington); B Sharpe (Cannock), M Pearn (Reading), S Head (East Grinstead). Substitutes used: C Giles (Southgate), R Crutchley (Cannock), D Hall (Guildford).

PAKISTAN (2-3-5): M Casim; S Abbass, A Saleem; M Usman, M Saqlain, W Ahmed; M Irfan, M Sarwar, A Bashir (capt), K Jawad, M Nadeem. Substitutes used: M Shahbaz, N Asim, D Kaleem, I Yousaf.

Results, Digest, page 25