Hockey: Wallis is England's inspirer

ENGLAND MAINTAINED their unbeaten record in the European Nations Cup in Padua yesterday, when they drew 3-3 with the Netherlands to finish second to Dutch in their pool.

England showed plenty of enterprise after trailing the Olympic and world champions 3-1. They dominated in the opening spell with Danny Hall scoring the opening goal in the 15th minute.

Hall had another chance to put England further ahead in the 21st minute after good work by Ben Sharpe and Brett Garrard. The Dutch, though, stepped up the pace and scored two goals inside four minutes, courtesy of Piet Geeris and Teun de Nooyer.

The loss of Garrard with a twisted ankle just before the interval was a blow to England, who went further behind 16 minutes into the second half after Remco van Wyk scored.

Jimmy Wallis led England's fightback when he deflected the ball home at a penalty corner in the 59th minute and Mark Pearn then equalised. "The courage of our players was magnificent," said Barry Dancer, the England coach.

Wales registered their first win of the tournament, thanks to a hat- trick from Simon Organ, as they beat Italy 6-1.

ENGLAND: S Mason (Reading); M Johnson (Cannock), J Halls (Cannock), J Wyatt (Reading), B Waugh (Southgate, capt); R Garcia (Harvestehuder), B Garrard (Teddington), J Wallis (Teddington); B Sharpe (Cannock), D Hall (Guildford), M Pearn (Reading). Substitutes used: C Giles (Surbiton), G Fordham (Hounslow), J Bell (Brooklands), A Humphrey (Cannock).

NETHERLANDS: R Jansen; J Delmee; B Lomans, E Jazet, W van Pelt; S Veen, J Brinkman, T de Nooyer; T van Meer, M Eikelboom, R Van Wyk. Substitutes used: S van der Weide, P Geeris, & J Buma.

Umpires: R Wolter (Germany) & Singh Amarjit (Malaysia).

Results, Digest, page 22