Late Hofman strike in Delhi sends England home empty-handed

ROGIER Hofman's dramatic late strike completed a stunning comeback for the Netherlands as England let a two-goal lead slip to leave the Hockey World Cup empty-handed.

CROWDED OUT: Ashley Jackson leads by example with two goals but England get stifled by a determined Netherlands side in their World Cup third place playoff (Grant Treeby Images / EHB)

Ashley Jackson's sparkling double had taken England into a 3-1 lead at half-time and moved his side to within touching distance of their first World Cup medal for 24 years, only for the Dutch to roar back to clinch bronze.

Jackson took his tournament tally to seven after Alastair Brogdon had cancelled out Teun de Nooijer's opener in Delhi but the Netherlands stormed back through goals from Taeke Taekema, Klass Vermeulen and Hofman to leave England crestfallen.

"For 40 minutes we played the better hockey and were the dominant side," said England head coach Jason Lee. "In the end though we missed a few chances, final passes or control let us down and we found ourselves chasing back a lot.

"Against the likes of de Nooijer that's very hard to do and we made it difficult for ourselves.

"We're very disappointed at the moment and we probably will be for a few weeks.

"We're disappointed because we believed in ourselves that we could have done even better in the latter stages but overall the players have had a fantastic tournament.

"We will continue to focus on our development and look to put ourselves in the position to contest the medals at future tournaments."

England, ranked sixth in the world, have surpassed expectations in India, booking their place in the last four courtesy of impressive group stage wins over Australia, India, Pakistan and South Africa.

But Lee's troops ran out of steam and were downed 2-0 by Olympic silver medallists Spain before defending champions Germany proved too strong in the semis.

England picked themselves up and appeared to have done enough to reach the World Cup podium for the first time since 1986, only for their late capitulation to open to door for the Netherlands.

It was the Dutch who started the brighter and de Nooijer broke the deadlock on 22 minutes, rounding off a fine run from teammate Robert van der Horst.

But just a minute later England were level when Brogdon capitalised on some slack Dutch defending and slammed home.

That goal handed Lee's men the impetus and England's sharpshooter Jackson netted twice before the interval to hand his side a two-goal cushion.

Both times Jackson, who plays his club hockey in the Netherlands, produced expert dragflicks to beat Dutch goalkeeper Guss Vogels.

But England fell to pieces after the break once Taekema's penalty corner effort deflected off Richard Alexander and beat James Fair low to his right on 48 minutes.

With 14 minutes remaining, the scores were level when Vermeulen poked home from close range with the help of a deflection from Ben Hawes.

And the comeback was complete just three minutes from time when Hofman took advantage of a poor piece of control from Dan Fox to fire home and break England hearts.