2009 Men's Champions Trophy
Venue: Melbourne, Australia Dates: 28 November to 6 December
Coverage: Highlights and match reports on the BBC Sport website

Champions Trophy hockey - England lose to Spain

England's disappointing Champions Trophy campaign ended with a 5-2 defeat by Spain in Melbourne.

The result leaves England last in the six-team tournament, having lost four matches, won one and drawn one.

Ashley Jackson scored two penalty corners for England against Spain but they were rarely in contention against the Olympic silver medallists.

The tournament was won by hosts and defending champions Australia, who overcame Germany 5-3 in the final.

The defeat caps a disappointing end to the year for Olympic gold medallists Germany, who were surprisingly beaten by England in the final of August's European Championships.

That result led many to label England as potential challengers for the Champions Trophy.

We've a lot of work still to do and we are still behind the other nations - but not by a long way, which gives us cause for optimism going into the World Cup England assistant coach Bobby Crutchley

Results have proven otherwise but assistant coach Bobby Crutchley remained positive about the progress being made by the side ahead of the World Cup in February 2011.

"We're reasonably pleased," said Crutchley. "We've a lot of work still to do and we are still behind the other nations - but not by a long way, which gives us cause for optimism going into the World Cup."

England, ranked sixth in the world, were always second favourites against a Spanish side ranked three places above them, but a 4-2 victory over South Korea in their previous match on Saturday provided some hope that they could upset the odds.

However, these quickly faded when Pau Quemada and Xavi Lleonart gave Spain an early 2-0 lead.

Jackson pulled England back into contention with a superb drag flick but a controversial goal in the final minute of the first half proved costly.

The finish from Eduard Tubau was valid but the move leading up to it started illegally with Eduard Arbos kicking the ball away from Richard Mantell.

The skills of Pol Amat and Quemada enabled Xavier Ribas to make it 4-1 and although Jackson reduced the arrears, Amat netted in the final minute to round off the scoring.

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