New Delhi, 13 Jan 2014: England remained unbeaten with a third victory and topped the pool here on Monday.
Penalty corner specialist Ashley Jackson, who is back from an ankle injury, sent in his dreaded drag flicks once in each half, and Mark Gelghorne converted one more goal following a set-piece drill to take a 3-0 lead by the 50th minute in the Hero World Hockey League Final.
New Zealand struck one back in the 57th minute through a short corner conversion by Hugo Inglis but England continued to dominate and pumped in two more goals for a 5-1 victory. Tom Carson and skipper Barry Middleton were the other scorers for England.
Both the teams had equal share of exchanges and ball possession in the first half but New Zealand found difficult to breach the strong English defence led by a hardworking Dan Fox. With 5 minutes to go for the break England earned their second penalty corner and Ashley Jackson made no mistake beating the Kiwi custodian Hamish McGregor flicking to the top corner to his left.
In the 44th minute there was a clash of the captains in the England circle when Kiwi skipper Dean Couzins brought down English captain Barry Middleton and was sent out with a yellow card. The resultant penalty corner saw Ashley Jackson back among the goals making it 2-0 for England, this time sending a low flick to the right of the goal keeper.
New Zealand pulled one back with Hugo converting the 57th minute short corner but England scored two field goals in the last three minutes to round off for a 5-1 win. In the 67th minute Ashley Jackson was in the thick of action. After a raid from the left flank, he cut into the circle and moved down on the goalline before sending a perfect pass to an unmarked Tom Carson near the spot. The latter smashed it into the boards to leave no chance to Kiwi goalkeeper Hamish Mcgregor.
The last goal that came seconds before the hooter came after a beautiful deflection. A powerful hit from Nick Catlin from near the dotted line, was subtly deflected by skipper Barry Middleton and the ball zoomed into the goal leaving the rival goalie stranded.
ends