England gutted by Champions Trophy near miss

IN time England women's hockey team will see the positives from their Champions Trophy performance - although emotions are too raw for that now.

NOT ENOUGH:  England's Crista Cullen (bottom) after scoring their second goal against New Zealand but the hosts failed to advance to the Champions Trophy final in Nottingham (Action Images)

Given that they'd never previously won more than one match at the elite six-team tournament, to come so close to a final appearance in Nottingham rightly deserves praise.

But coach Danny Kerry - thinking to the Olympic challenges that lie two years ahead in London had no time for that.

England's 2-2 draw with New Zealand and Argentina's late goal in a 4-3 win over China, means the hosts will now play Germany for bronze, while Olympic and world champions the Netherlands take on the fortunate South Americans.

Even if they lose England will have exceeded previous appearances at the event, although that again did not make Kerry feel any better.

New Zealand hit England with two goals in just nine minutes early in the match, Piki Hamahona and Gemma Flynn taking advantage of some fragile defending.                 

Nicola White reduced the arrears seconds later while Crista Cullen's 31st minute penalty corner restored parity, although no decisive strike followed.

"Credit to the girls, they came back from 2-0 down but that bad spell early in the match cost us," said Kerry.  "However, they did really, really well to get two goals back.

"It's been a very disappointing day on many levels and it's hard to know what to say.

"At half time there were some key messages given and I'm a little disappointed some of them didn't get through.  

"My job now is to get the girls up and prepare for the bronze medal match."