Men's Hockey: Northern Ireland v England

Jake Beaumont was the hero for the English side in a match where they were pegged back twice before his late tap-in secured a famous win which boosts their chances of winning the hockey tournament. At one stage Northern Ireland had nine men on the pitch, with two sinbins for Gregg Thompson and Stuart Smith, the former for a swipe and the latter for bad language, England’s excellent Daniel Mills, with his distinctive running style, involved in both. Mills sat out most of the second half with injury but his presence on the turf was welcome for England, as it was he who assisted Beaumont with his goal.

Early on Josh Gunnell had missed badly for England from two yards after James Simpson – who could not add to his two goals against Wales – had done well. Dean Ward’s theatrical dive in the English D was the worst moment of a great afternoon for him (excluding the final whistle), and his teammates were left on the floor by the slippery pitch time and again. The NI team could not create any goals in the first half mainly through the intervention of Johnathan Price, who blocked two shots on his own line, in the right place at the right time. England took the lead from a short corner, Olly Howick’s powerful shot coming thirteen minutes into the game following good skills by Kieran Henn, and Howick proved he could hit men as well as balls when he left Ward winded. As green triangles were issues to both sides – Mills had one for breaking too prematurely at a short corner – both goalkeepers had good saves to make, and it was still tight at just one-nil.

Two minutes into the second half, Price was irate at his sinbin, feeling he had played the ball before the man. This and other rough tackles prompted a shout of “composure!” from the English keeper whose clean sheet was dirtied moments after his shout by Ward’s reverse shot, the extra man giving the team more space going forward. Just as Price was readying himself to come back on, NI player Jan Empen tripped an Englishman from behind and took his seat off the pitch for five minutes. Both sides pressed for goal but Mark Moreland’s clumsy feet impeded the ball, giving England a short corner from which a Howick bullet, always rising, found its way into the net. NI were fortunate that the attacking from England in open play was so weak, their passes as errant as NI’s discipline. Ward managed to equalise for a second time after William Robinson had just about kept the ball alive at the byline, though the rugby-like conferring by the officials made him wait a minute for confirmation. The puissance of the attacking deserves the goal, though England had a case for a foul leading up to it. Everything levelled out with the two quick NI sinbins inside two minutes of each other. Price was involved again, tripping an opponent to lead to two short corners which his team barely survived, and soon Beaumont’s winner came, coming to him after the ball had bounced off a NI player’s chin. The final few minutes saw a cross flash past the English D, and it was fitting that Mills made England’s final tackle. Converse to their dominance over Scotland, Northern Ireland were tamed by the well-drilled and encouraged white-shirted team, who had enough team spirit, and a bayonet-wielding Howick, to secure the win.