England finish fifth at World Cup

Jones snatched an impressive win for England

England defeated Pakistan 1-0 in the fifth-place play-off to secure their highest World Cup finish for 16 years.

Martin Jones scored the winner in the 67th minute with a simple tap-in after James Tindall won possession.

Tindall, Richard Mantell and Rob Moore also went close as England dominated while Jonty Clarke was denied by a superb goalline clearance.

England, ranked 11th in the world, kept penalty corner expert Sohail Abbas quiet as they held on for victory.

England manager Pete Nicholson felt his side's superior fitness was the crucial factor.

"We want to be on the front foot all the time and so we use a lot of substitutions and people play in short spells," he said.

"We want to play in the last five minutes like we did in the first. Pakistan don't use substitutions as much and I think that told in the end."

Meanwhile, Holland beat New Zealand 3-0 to secure seventh place while Japan overcame South Africa 5-2 and Argentina held off India 3-2 in the play-offs for ninth to 12th places.

Hosts Germany will take on Australia in the final on Sunday.

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England: Fair (gk), Kirkham, Garrard, R Mantell, Hawes, Cordon, Wilson, Middleton, Tindall, Bleby. Substitutes: S Mantell, Goudie, Jones, Alexander, Clarke, Moore. Did not play: Brothers (gk), Daly.

Pakistan: Ahman (gk), Butt, Ullah, Ghanzafar Ali, Saqlain, Hussain, Maqsood, Annas, Shabbir Muhammad, Abbasi, Zubair Muhammad, Akhtar Ali, Imran, Ahmad, Ashraf, Zakir.