Nick Bandurak desperate for medal

England face South Africa at the University of Birmingham today having threatened to pull-off arguably the shock of the Commonwealth Games against the six-time champions.

The host nation were 2-0 up against Australia – who have not lost a match at the Games since 1998 – before the tournament favourites mounted a comeback to eventually win 3-2, courtesy of Dan Beale’s somewhat controversial winner.

Bandurak and his team-mates were yesterday liking their wounds before preparing to face the South Africans, themselves beaten 3-2 by India in Saturday’s other semi-final.

He said: “It’s a big 24 hours for recovery, before we get ready to go for a massive game on Monday.

“We know what this group is capable of. By and large we showed that on Saturday against the best side in the world.

“We know, deep down, we can go toe-to-toe. Hopefully everyone else knows that now.

“This group has a very special of years coming up. This one hurts, a lot, so we have to recover physically and mentally and make sure we get the medal we think we deserve.”

Though Bandurak largely maintained a diplomatic silence over Beale’s winner, England’s players were left fuming after the goal was allowed to stand, despite replays shown on the stadium’s big screen appearing to confirm the ball was rolling at a free-hit taken in the build-up.

Bandurak, who has enjoyed a fantastic tournament on a personal level and is currently top scorer with 11 goals, came close to bagging an equaliser in the closing stages but saw his shot from a penalty corner cleared off the line by defender Flynn Ogilvie.

“I really thought it was in,” admitted Bandurak. “It was a hell of a pick, wasn’t it?

“We were ready for it. We know (Australia) they are the best side in the world for a reason and we would need to bring our A game.

“I really think we did that. We took it to them and tried to be as aggressive as possible.

“We put them under some real pressure, the kind they probably haven’t seen in a while. A couple of things could have gone our way but didn’t and that is what cost us, the fine margins.

“Their third goal, obviously, we are very frustrated with. I’d like to think everyone saw what we saw. We piled on the pressure but could not find a way through.”