Revitalised Australia gain sweet revenge on England

Macau:

Reigning World Cup champions Australia kept their bid for an unprecedented sixth Champions Trophy on track today as the Hockeyroos exacted sweet revenge on their Commonwealth Games conquerors England. England, who disposed of the World Cup winners in the semi-finals of the Commonwealth Games last month, found a fired up Aussie team and the burning afternoon sun too hot to handle as they crumbled 2-0 at Macau Stadium. In today's second match, New Zealand courageously came back from a goal down to draw with European Champions the Netherlands 2-2 while defending champions Argentina were held to a draw by hosts China. "I'm very happy with the performance. It was a very hard game in the conditions and to come out of two 4 0'clock starts with two wins is very satisfying," said Australian coach David Bell. However, he denied the Australians were hell bent on revenge after the Commonwealth Games last month. "No. What's there to revenge? They beat us four weeks ago. We get on with life and take each game as it comes." A revitalised Australian team, who had looked out of sorts at the start of the elite six-nation tournament, swept aside a hopelessly outgunned England side to notch their second successive win, just three days after crashing to a shock 1-0 loss to unheralded China. Nikki Hudson thought she had opened the scoring when she cut across two defenders on the right and unleashed a vicious shot past the despairing dive of Roberts only to be adjudged by umpire Ute Conen to have been just outside the circle when she let fly.(PTI)