England Men Narrowly Miss Out On Second Win Over Germany

England’s Men lost a thrilling contest 3-2 against Germany ensuring the sides shared the spoils across the two days of FIH Pro League action.

David Condon got England off to a flyer with a goal after three minutes before Malte Hellwig levelled proceedings with 21 minutes on the clock.

Tom Grambusch put Germany in front in the second half before James Gall’s clever work restored parity for less than a minute as Gonzalo Peillat struck a 41st-minute winner for the home side. 

England threw everything at their opponents - who spent the majority of a frenetic final quarter a player down - but they were unable to turn things around.

Having won Wednesday’s first game 1-0 courtesy of an inspirational performance from Ollie Payne in goal, interim coach Zak Jones’ side sit seventh in the table after two days of hockey in Monchengladbach. 

The visitors could hardly have asked for a better start having taken the lead within 180 seconds when Will Calnan’s shot was parried into the path of Condon who volleyed home from close range before wheeling away in celebration. 

Both sides continued to attack and Calnan was almost involved in another England goal as some nice build-up play allowed him to receive the ball in the penalty area but his flick on was just out of reach of his teammates’ grasp.

Germany almost drew level when Peillat’s strike from a penalty corner was well saved by James Mazarelo, selected in the England goal ahead of yesterday’s Player of the Match Payne, to keep the visitors’ lead intact at the end of the first quarter.

However, Germany did square things up from their third penalty corner in the 21st minute when Tom Grambusch’s neat routine found Hellwig who fired into the roof of the net.

The goal swung momentum firmly in Germany’s favour as they continued to pile on the pressure, yet they were unable to add any further goals before half-time.

The hosts went ahead ten minutes into the third quarter through Tom Grambusch after his drag flick took a very unfortunate deflection off the legs of England skipper Tom Sorsby on the line before going in.

Christopher Ruhr received a ten-minute yellow card for striking an opponent with his stick to give England a man advantage and they immediately capitalised when Sam Ward’s powerful low strike from the penalty corner was expertly deflected into the roof of the net by Gall. 

But Germany immediately hit back as Peillat sent a rocket soaring right into the top corner of the goal from a penalty corner, a fitting effort for what turned out to be the winner in this hard-fought match between two quality sides.

England pulled goalkeeper Marazelo in the final quarter to bring on an additional outfield player and hammer home their numerical superiority but despite Germany’s Johannes Grosse being handed a green card after Ruhr’s return, they were unable to find a crucial equaliser. 

The closest the visiting side came was in the 55th minute when Jean Danneberg pulled off a fantastic save but it was the winners who almost scored at the death, only denied by James Albery’s terrific last-ditch block. 

The result leaves England on ten points in the table, level with Belgium who have played two games more and ten behind second-place Germany, who have played four more. 

Despite suffering mixed results over the two days, captain Sorsby was satisfied with the performances of his side while admitting there was still room for improvement ahead of their home fixtures beginning on May 21 against France.

He said: “At least we got the three points to take home. One win out of two games is decent for us.

“There were some good parts of our game, but we’ve definitely got some stuff to improve on. 

“I think we showed for periods of that game the level we can play at but we were on the wrong side of the scoreline in this match.”