Hockey Women's World Cup: England beat South Korea to reach quarter-finals

England beat South Korea 2-0 to reach the World Cup quarter-finals.

A scrappy Sophie Bray field goal midway through the first quarter put England in front before Lily Owsley sealed the win late on.

South Korea struggled to threaten, although England goalkeeper Maddie Hinch made two crucial saves - one in the third quarter and one with minutes left - with the score at 1-0.

The hosts will play Netherlands in the last eight on Thursday.

England could have won more convincingly but wasted a number of good first-half opportunities, with Alex Danson guilty of going alone rather than setting up Bray for a tap-in moments before half-time.

South Korea were then able to exert some second-half pressure but were punished after pulling their goalkeeper late on in a bid for an equaliser, allowing Owsley to break and score into an empty net to make it 2-0 with a minute left.

Earlier in the day, India beat Italy 3-0 to set up a quarter-final against Ireland.

Bray's first-half goal was allowed to stand after a review by the officials

Analysis

London 2012 bronze medallist Sally Walton on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

That's the England we have been waiting to see. They controlled the game from start to finish. They had more composure and thoroughly deserved the win.

It was great to see two different goalscorers and they will be full of confidence going into the quarter-finals.

England's game against the Netherlands will be the first game in this tournament they will go into as underdogs. I think England will thrive on that.

What they said

England goalscorer Sophie Bray: "It was good for us to get the first goal. It meant South Korea had to come out and play more, which gave us more opportunities. Credit to our defenders- it was a solid performance to keep South Korea out."

England coach Danny Kerry: "I really enjoyed the first half. We absolutely smashed it. In the second half, we lost some shape up front, but the first half was fantastic.

"We took away South Korea's game. We didn't allow them to set up big shapes. We forced them to play deep and then we turned them over and counter-attacked. That's what I was most happy about.

"I knew the second half would be cagey as fatigue set in, but I'm a pretty proud coach. We have a few things up our sleeve for the Dutch."

Quarter-final schedule

Wednesday, 1 August

Germany v Spain, 18:00

Australia v Argentina, 20:15

Thursday, 2 August

Ireland v India, 18:00

Netherlands v England, 20:15