Hockey: Poland fall to Giles

CALUM GILES, with two penalty corner strikes, guaranteed England a semi-final place in the European Nations Cup here yesterday when they beat Poland 3-0 in a physical contest which left coach Barry Dancer happy he had achieved his first major objective: three points and no injuries.

"A difficult match against a physical, strong and disciplined team that defended with a lot of players behind the ball," Dancer summed up.

After 24 minutes of English dominance Giles opened the scoring from their second penalty corner. With David Luckes saving well from a couple of Polish attacks approaching half time, it was a relief to the vocal England supporters that Giles put his side further ahead four minutes after the interval. Tom Bertram cemented England's victory when his powerful penalty shot was deflected past the Polish goalkeeper in the 61st minute.

England today play the Netherlands in their final Pool game needing a win to put them in top place and so avoid a semi-final against Germany, top after a 6-2 win over Belgium.

ENGLAND: D Luckes (East Grinstead); A Humphrey (Cannock), T Bertram (Bournville), J Wyatt (Reading), B Waugh (capt, Southgate); B Sharpe (Cannock), B Garrard (Teddington), R Garcia ( Harvestehuder, Hamburg); G Fordham (Hounslow), J Bell (Brooklands), C Giles (Surbiton). Substitutes used: M Johnson (Cannock), J Wallis (Teddington), S Head (East Grinstead), M Pearn (Reading).

POLAND: P Sobczak; Z Yuszczak; P Jakubiak, M Matuszynski, T Szmidt; R Grzeszczak (capt), T Cichy, D Malecki; P Mikula, A Mikual, R Grotowski. Substitutes used: T Choczaj, D Marcinkowski, L Wybierlalski, A Korcz.

Umpires: E Silvano (It), M Gruson(Fr).

Results, Digest, page 25