Hockey: Towns laments sleepy start as medal hopes fade

Exasperated New Zealand men's hockey coach Kevin Towns didn't hold back as his team's chances of a repeat Commonwealth Games medal hung by a thread tonight.

New Zealand were outplayed by a faster, more ruthless England team who deserved their 4-3 win and left Towns' side the huge task of upsetting Olympic champions Australia on Wednesday to book asemifinal place.

"Mistakes and poor defence throughout the game put us on the back foot," Towns said.

"We got caught square, we got caught watching the ball, when there was a turnover of possession our halves were a bit slow to react.

"It's going to be a long road all the way to China (the World Cup qualifiers next month). We hope that England get beaten and there's a few upsets in our pool, but it makes it real tough."

The cool heads and experience of retired veterans Simon Towns and defender Dion Gosling were missed as England, led by the brilliant Barry Middleton, punished any turnovers.

Middleton had a hand in all four England goals and was credited with one himself from a thunderous backhand shot when it appeared teammate Matthew Daly had deflected it in.

New Zealand's goals came from Bevan Hari, Hayden Shaw and aconsolation to Blair Hopping in injury time.

"We thought they would attack us at speed down the right, we really defended poorly against the style of hockey they were playing," Towns said.

"It's a new combination but we've got eight players from the Olympics, so how new is that? We're missing key players but so is England."

Goalkeeper Paul Woolford had a better game than the score would suggest, saving a penalty stroke from Simon Mantell with 10 minutes left and the score 2-3.

New Zealand had their share of bad luck, with Phil Burrows and Shaw both hitting the post -- Shaw's a crucial moment with seven minutes left and New Zealand trailing by one. Daly clinched the match three minutes later.

Shaw converted just one of New Zealand's five penalty corners, while Hopping's goal came from a blocked corner.

New Zealand's leading scorer from their silver medal performance four years ago in Manchester, Shaw wasn't ready to wave the white flag.

"It is a setback because we targeted this game as the most important one of the pool," Shaw said.

"Now we've got to win these next two games and have a really big crack at Australia. We can, we've got the players to have a crack.

"We were a bit sloppy in our basics today, especially at the back with some of our passing. We got caught out a lot."

England flew out of the blocks and led 2-1 at halftime, with Auckland schoolboy Simon Child New Zealand's first half standout who injected some much needed energy.

New Zealand's next match is against Canada tomorrow.

- NZPA