Middleton insists England camp is still on a high after World Cup

By Chris Cottrell, Sportsbeat

CAPTAIN Barry Middleton insists England are still heading in the right direction despite their disappointing finish to the Hockey World Cup in Delhi last weekend.

UPBEAT: Despite a cruel late defeat to the Netherlands, which denied England a World Cup medal, captain Barry Middleton is adamant morale is high (England Hockey)

England romped through their opening four pool matches in India with spirits high after a morale-boosting victory over perennial bogey-team Australia - their first for 25 years.

The European champions' challenge took a turn for the worse as they lost their final pool match to Spain before suffering a semi-final defeat to Germany and a desperate last-gasp defeat to the Netherlands in the bronze medal match.

But going into the tournament ranked sixth in the world, England punched above their weight to finish fourth with a squad missing key forwards Simon Mantell and Matt Daly and losing stalwart defender Richard Mantell to injury half way through.

And Middleton is adamant it was a case of mission accomplished in India, having guaranteed a spot at this summer's Champions Trophy in Monchengladbach.

"It was definitely an encouraging two weeks," said Middleton. "One of the things we said after that last defeat was to look at it as a good result even though we were all pretty devastated with how it finished.

"It was a long competition and I think we just ran out of steam against the Netherlands at the end.

"Germany was a different match - they were just better than us on the day but we gave it our all against the Netherlands and just ran out of energy.

"But getting to the semi-finals was always the big target for us and we did that."

The loss of Richard Mantell was a bitter one for the English squad with the veteran defender set to miss this season's Champions Trophy and Commonwealth Games after undergoing an operation on a broken fibula and dislocated ankle.

But the Reading defender has vowed to return to the England set up for 2011 and insists the squad has come on leaps and bounds since he made his debut seven years ago.

"I think the whole team did brilliantly in Delhi," said Mantell. "They were disappointed to finish with a few defeats but we've come a long way as a group in the last four or five years.

"As a group we're getting more and more experience of major tournaments and that's going to help us in the future.

"I'd love to be back with the team by the Commonwealths but it's looking really tight at the moment.

"I'm aiming to be back playing by that time but I don't think I'll be tournament fit."