Hockey: Dutch finishing startles England: Peter Colwill reports from Edinburgh

ENGLAND were beaten 3-0 by the Netherlands in the semi-final of the Women's Under-21 European Cup at Cramond yesterday. The goals came in a nine-minute spell just before the interval after England's initial pressure had threatened to disrupt the free-flowing Dutch.

Ageeth Boomgaardt showed England how penalty corners should be hit after Lucy Youngs had wasted one, taking full advantage of a needless concession when England failed to retreat from a free-hit.

Cecile Vinke, an Olympian coming on as a substitute for her first game of the tournament following injury, produced a dazzling run and finish for the Netherlands' second goal. She had been on the field less than 10 minutes. Within a minute, Ingeborg Evenblij connected with a difficult bouncing ball for the third.

The Netherlands play Germany, whom they beat in a pool match 2-1, in today's final. Scotland face Ireland for fifth place and qualification for next year's World Cup. Ireland beat the Unified Team 5-4 on penalties after a 2-2 draw.

ENGLAND: C Reid; K Harvey, S Lawfull, N Jones, L Cope, S Eyre (capt), F Lee, A Wakefield, L Youngs, J Green, T Willmore. Substitute: K Macdonald.

NETHERLANDS: E De Haan; E Verbakel, A Boomgaardt, M Vossen, W Fortuin (capt), H Smabers, M Teeuwen, J Lewin, I Sheepstra, S Van der Wielen, I Evenblij. Substitutes: C Vinke, M Appels.

Umpires: I Sivtsova (Russia) and A Tuero (Spain).

WOMEN'S UNDER-21 EUROPEAN CUP (Cramond, nr Edinburgh): Semi-finals: Germany 1 Spain 1 (Germany won 4-1 on penalties); Netherlands 3 England 0. Play-offs for fifth place: Ireland 2 Unified Team 2 (Ireland won 5-4 on penalties); Scotland 4 France 0.