Late Montag missile rocket downs Great Britain
Pool D - Germany 2-1 Gret Britain

A vastly improved performance from Great Britain was harshly punished as a last gasp penalty corner from Jan-Marco Montag gave Germany a 2-1 win which puts them top of Pool D overnight. With the scores locked at 1-1, Montag sent a glorious penalty corner flick into the roof of the James Fair’s goal to break British hearts in the second match of the day here in Auckland.

Great Britain started the game nervously, clearly still hurting from Tuesday’s shattering 8-1 defeat against Spain. The Germans were determined to draw first blood, and did just that when in the 4^th minute Martin Zwicker showed a calm head to flick into the goal following excellent work down the right from Benjamin Wess.

The Brits battled well after conceding and eventually dragged themselves level when a fine attacking move was finished off by Glenn Kirkham. The British captain produced a sublime first touch to control a pass into the circle before crashing the ball through the legs of Germany keeper Nico Jacobi to tie up the scores.

Both sides had fine chances move ahead before the break, with Oskar Deecke going closest with a shot from the right that was spectacularly cleared off the line by Great Britain’s Adam Dixon.

A blistering penalty corner flick from Jan-Marco Montag almost re-established the German lead in the 46^th minute, but James Fair produced a magnificent stick save to force the ball around the post.

Great Britain dominated the latter stages of the game and would surely have taken the lead were it not for some incredible defending from Germany, most memorably when Pilt Arnold batted Ashley Jackson’s goal-bound penalty corner away to safety in the 67^th minute. Jackson again went close a minute later when he worked his way along the backline from the right but could only find the side-netting with his flick-shot.

Germany won the first of two penalty corners in the final minute of the game, the first of which was well blocked by the British defenders but only resulted in the award of a second PC.  With time expired, Jan-Marco Montag’s slammed a wonderful flick into the top of the Great Britain net to seal all three points for Germany. 

Germany - Great Britain 2-1 – Owen G Glenn FIH Champions Trophy Men 2011

> Jan-Marco Montag scored the first PC goal for Germany from 13 attempts to give Germany a 2-1 win over GB.
> Germany have now won their last 5 CT matches against GB, since drawing 1-1 in 1991.
> Germany go top in Pool D on 4 points, followed by Pakistan and GB (3 points) and Korea (1). All team are still in contention for the Final 5-6.
> GB were awarded 1 CP in this match, Germany got 4 converting 1.
> Great Britain have now converted 2 of 15 penalty corners awarded (14%).
> Germany are now on 1 from 13
> Martin Zwicker scored his first career CT goal. He netted twice for Germany at the 2010 World Cup vs Argentina (4-3 win).
> Jan-Marco Montag has now scored against GB/England at 3 successive CT tournaments.
> Glenn Kirkham scored his first goal of the tournament. In 2010 he scored his first CT goal in England's 3-3 draw with Spain.

Great Britain – Germany (8 Dec 2011, 14:05) – Owen G Glenn FIH Champions Trophy Men 2011 

Head-to-heads

> Germany bare unbeaten in 12 CT encounters with Great Britain, recording 9 wins and3 draws.
> Germany have won their last 4 CT matches against GB, since drawing 1-1 in 1991.
> Their last CT encounter came at Kuala Lumpur 2007, when Germany equalled their biggest CT victory over GB (4-0), a record first set in 2000 (also 4-0).
> Germany’s last encounter with England came last August, at the European Nations Cup and saw Germany beat England 3-0.
> England’s last win over Germany came in July 2011, at the 4-nations Rabo Trophy in Amstelveen (3-2).
> At last year’s Champions Trophy, Germany beat England 4-2.

Great Britain Facts

> GB qualify for the Final 5-6 if they beat Germany.
> GB have finished 5th or 6th in their last 8 Champions Trophy appearances (1988-2007).
> Great Britain, Korea, and Pakistan have scored fewest goals in their first 3 matches (4).
> Great Britain have conceded most goals at Auckland 2011 after Day 3 (13).
> Great Britain have conceded most field goals (10).
> Great Britain have converted 2 of 14 penalty corners awarded (14%).
> Great Britain have conceded 3 PC goals from 13 PCs awarded to their opponents.
> Simon Mantell has scored 2 goals (1FG, 1PC) for GB at Auckland 2011. The other GB goalscorers are Barry Middleton (PC) and Mark Pearn (FG).
> 19-year-old Harry Martin can become the third teenager to score for GB or England in CT competition joining Mark Pearn (age 18) in 1995 and Simon Nicklin (age 19) in 1992.

Germany Facts

> Germany have scored 7 and conceded 7 goals so far, all from open play.
> Germany are on 0 for 9 in terms of penalty corners converted at Auckland 2011. Korea (0 for 10) are the only other team that failed to score from penalty corners.
> Netherlands (0) and Germany (15) have not conceded any penalty corner goals yet.
> Germany have seen 10 PCs been awarded to their opponents but none were converted.
> Tobias Matania (2 goals) is Germany’s top scorer at Auckland 2011 so far. Florian Fuchs, Christoph Menke, Jan-Marco Montag, Thilo Stralkowski, and Christopher Wesley are the other German goalscorers.
> Florian Fuchs is on the shortlist for the FIH Young Player of the Year award.
> All players on the German squad are in their twenties. Florian Fuchs is the youngest at age 20 and Max Weinhold and Timo Wess are the oldest players at age 29.