Hockey: Dutch come unstuck

Australia took another step forward to Friday's semi-finals of the World Junior Cup at Milton Keynes when they beat the Netherlands 4- 0 in their last but one pool game yesterday. However, with Spain coming from behind to beat Belgium 4-2 they, along with India, are still contesting the semi-final places from this pool with one round of games to go.

It took Australia just 15 minutes to go ahead against the Dutch and a second goal from Matthew Wells came just before the interval. The Dutch, who failed to score from eight penalty corners, will regret the decision not to include in Bram Lomas, their penalty corner specialist who scored the final goal in last summer's Olympics. In the second half Australia added further goals from Ben Taylor and Guy Bolton.

Belgium's Patrick Gierts scored in the 12th minute, and although Spain went ahead 2-1 five minutes into the second half, Christophe Milecan put Belgium level with eight minutes left. The temporary suspension of Milecan three minutes later triggered off a Spanish assault with two late goals. In another match Argentina struggled to beat Japan 1-0.