England thrashed Malaysia 8-0 to move into outright second position on the points table after the fourth round of the KT Cup in Korea today.

Doubles to captain Kate Walsh and Alex Danson punctuated the performance as England claimed favouritism to advance to Thursday’s  final against the home team due their three-point lead and superior goal difference over the Chinese.

England were made to work hard in the first half by a Malaysian side who showed skills above their world ranking. But the deadlock was broken with a well-executed drag flick from Walsh in the 26th minute.

A second goal quickly followed from open play by Danson and England went into half time 2-0 up. The floodgates opened in the second half with an avalanche of six goals blowing out the margin to leave Malaysia anchored to the foot of the table.

“Today was an excellent opportunity to play against a deep defending team. Initially we made hard work of play, with poor core skill execution but the second half performance was fast and powerful,” England coach Danny Kerry said.

Korea was forced to come from behind twice in their match before eventually outlasting China 3-2 to guarantee a place in Thursday’s final.

Twice Fu Baorong’s penalty corner goals gave China the lead in the first half, but they were unable to hold their advantage as Korea steadied and produced two second half efforts to Seon Ok Lee and Jin Hoo Lee to seal victory.

In the day’s first match, Ireland held off India’s second half resurgence to notch a 2-1 victory and claim their first win of the tournament.

Ireland took the lead after 11 minutes with Jenny Burke’s penalty corner strike finding the net. Ireland doubled their lead in the 22nd minute when Burke again gave her side a boost.

Ireland absorbed a lot of pressure midway through the second half and India scored from their seventh penalty corner attempt.

However Ireland goalkeeper Angela Platt made two important saves late in the match to keep Ireland ahead.

Points Table
Korea 12pts
England 8pts
China 5pts
India 4pts
Ireland 4pts
Malaysia 0pts

Results
Thursday 9 June
India 7 defeated Malaysia 1
Korea 6 defeated Ireland 3
England 0 drew China 0

Friday 10 June
England 1 drew India 1
Korea 7 defeated Malaysia 0
China 0 drew Ireland 0

Sunday 12 June
England 3 defeated Ireland 0
Korea 3 defeated India 0
China 9 defeated Malaysia 1

Monday 13 June
Ireland 2 defeated India 1
Korea 3 defeated China 2
England 8 defeated Malaysia 0

Wednesday’s Matches
Ireland v Malaysia, 11am
England v Korea, 2.30pm
India v China, 5pm