England fail to make Indoor World Cup semi-finals

Tindall scored but England could not claim victory

England missed out on a place in the last four of the Indoor World Cup in Poland after losing 3-2 to reigning European indoor champions Austria.

Victory over Iran on Thursday had given England a chance of a semi-final place but early goals from Benjamin Stanzl and Michael Korper put Austria on top.

Simon Mantell's penalty stroke gave England hope but Korper's second goal restored Austria's two-goal advantage.

James Tindall made it 3-2 but despite England's best efforts Austria held on.

Whether England end up in the fifth-sixth place play-off match or the seventh-eighth game depends on the result of match between Russia and the Czech Republic later on Friday.

"To get that close to a semi-final is an achievement in itself at our first Indoor World Cup," said England head coach Andy Halliday on Friday.

"The margin of victory today was so fine but then I always knew it would be tight.

"I'm proud of the team but very disappointed we lost. It would be really hard if we end up in the seventh-eighth play-off because we deserve the fifth-sixth place match."

And England ended up in sixth place after losing 4-2 to Holland on Saturday.

England conceded early goals from which they could not recover and strikes from Richard Mantell and Richard Alexander were merely consolations.

Dutch captain Robert Tigges scored a hat-trick with Maurits Hertzberger also getting on the scoresheet.

Halliday said after the match: "I'm disappointed with the display today on the back of a good tournament overall. We've got to put this into perspective; we've achieved a top-six finish.

"It has been a pretty successful tournament and in terms of developing ourselves for the outdoor game, this will stand us in good stead as we return to outdoor hockey."