German golden goal beats England

A golden goal by Germany's Maike Stockel knocked England's women out of the EuroHockey Nations Championships with a 2-1 defeat in the semi finals.

Germany took the lead through Natascha Keller in the 27th minute before Jo Ellis hit the equaliser.

England held on early in the golden goal first-half but Stockel's flick over Becky Duggan sealed Germany's win.

England's women face Spain for the bronze medal on Saturday (1200 BST) while Germany meet the Netherlands.

It was a cruel end to an entertaining game.

As the first extra-time period began England survived several flash balls across the circle and, having weathered the storm, they began to probe through the German midfield in search of the golden goal.

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However, with 90 seconds of the half remaining a ball down the right inside channel split the English defence and a diving German forward deflected the ball into the path of Stockel, who finished classily.

England coach Danny Kerry said too many small errors had undermined her side's performance.

"We're obviously a bit down. I think we let ourselves down with poor basic skills, which can be worked on, and when we do we will be beating teams like Germany," said Kerry.

"We were the second best team out there tonight and we've come out of a great game as losers.

"But we know what we need to do to improve and we will be doing that.

"The girls will pick themselves up for Saturday's game against Spain though; after all, there's a bronze medal at stake."

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