Australia was beaten 3-1 by the Netherlands in the final of the women's hockey World Cup in Madrid.

The Dutch confirmed their status as the world's number one team with an overdue World Cup - their first since 1990.

The Hockeyroos had been underdogs in what proved to be a scrappy match and impressed by making it so far, outperforming the likes of Argentina and Germany.

The first half was ordinary, the teams perhaps too aware of the stakes, with the Netherlands enjoying the balance of play but unable to break through.

It was only in the last five minutes of the half that the match came alive, when the ball was deflected into the Australian net.

Holland's Silvia Karres - the tournament's leading scorer - leapt into the air to celebrate, but the Australians immediately argued the ball came off an Australian stick.

The decision was referred to the video referee, who ruled in Australia's favour as the ball had clearly come off the stick of Angie Skirving.

It was a game that needed a goal and it arrived seven minutes into the second half.

The Netherlands won two penalty corners for the ball coming off the feet of Australian defenders and, on the second attempt, Maartje Paumen drove it into the net below diving Australian keeper Sarah Imison.

The lead was short-lived as Australia won a penalty corner when a Dutch defender blocked a goal-bound shot on the line with her legs while the keeper was stranded.

Rebecca Sanders hit the shot low to the right of the keeper to level the scores with 23 minutes to play.

On 55 minutes, the Dutch went ahead again.

The ball broke free in the Australia semi-circle, Karres ran onto it and backsticked it into the goal off the instep of Imison - her sixth goal of the tournament.

Four minutes from time the Netherlands won a penalty stroke as Karres' shot at the open goal was blocked by the body of Kobi McGurk and Paumen converted the opportunity.

Earlier, Argentina claimed the bronze medal, trouncing host Spain 5-0.

But it was still Spain's most successful World Cup, the previous best performances coming with fifth-place finishes in the 1976 and 1990 editions.

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