England failed to shake off their dubious tag of “Bronze Goddess” as they went down by a lone second-half goal to Australia in their semi-final of the women’s hockey competition at the Commonwealth Games here Monday.
A lucky deflection from a 38th minute penalty corner by Aussie skipper Madonna Blyth turned out to be the match-winner in a contest that was played in searing mid-day heat.
The English women’s team is often called ‘Bronze Goddess’ following a string of their third place finishes.
In the final on Wednesday, the Aussies will take on the winners of the New Zealand-South Africa match that is slated for Monday evening.
In a well-fought game, England had a few chances but wasted these to pay the penalty while Australia came good with their first of the two penalty corners when Blyth got a deflection from close.
“We didn’t create many opportunities today. It is a good feeling to beat such a high ranked team like England who played in the World Cup semi-finals and it speaks for the quality of our game,” said Aussie team coach Frank Murray.
“We just didn’t create enough chances and Australia had everyone behind the ball,” said England coach Danny Kerry, barely able to hide his tears.
England’s best chance came with about two minutes left when following a right-wing move, Helen Richardson was in an excellent position to score with an open goal in front, but she got tangled with an anxious team-mate Laura Unsworth and lost the gilt-edged chance.
The hot conditions hardly lent for top quality hockey and both teams condemned the scheduling, saying it defied logic.
“It is a disservice to the game to be playing a semi-final at this time of the day. Then you have a placings match tonight after the second semi-final. I don’t see the logic of such scheduling,” said Kerry.
Murray hoped the organisers would give a little more thought and avoid such scheduling so that the spectators would get to see good hockey.
Earlier, Trinidad and Tobago ended their campaign on a winning note, beating Malaysia 2-1 to finish ninth overall.
