Win for the women against India

Great Britain’s women started their Australian Youth Olympic Festival in the best possible fashion with a 3-1 win against a strong Indian side.  With temperatures approaching 40 degrees the match was a serious challenge for the GB team both physically and mentally.

India started brightly scoring in the 13th minute through a well worked penalty corner deflection from Katayra.  Despite the heat, GB, with Scottish stars Laura Bartlett and Becky Ward both starting, began to edge their way into control as their high intensity game created openings for Katie Long and Lauren Turner later in the half.

1-0 down at half time, GB immediately took the upper hand in the second half winning the first of their nine penalty corners in the second minute.  Sarah Page went close with the first corner before Dilly Newton scored through a hard hit to the left side of the goal after 40 minutes.  GB continued to dominate and chances continued to come before Newton scored again in the 59th minute from another penalty corner.  More corners came and went but it took until the final minute to kill the game off, Sophie Bray finishing the job with just seconds left with a clever deflection from close range.

After running out deserving 3-1 winners, Head Coach Craig Parnham was pleased with the performance:  “In the conditions we performed well for the full 70 minutes, remaining patient and sticking to our game throughout.”

In the other match in the women’s pool, hosts Australia ran out 4-0 winners over upcoming Junior World Cup hosts USA.  Great Britain take on USA at 1300hrs (local) (0200hrs GMT) on Thursday.

Men draw with Malaysia

Menwhile Scottish players Kenny Bain and Gordon McIntyre were both on the scoresheet asGreat Britain’s men started their campaign with a pulsating 4-4 draw against Malaysia at the Olympic Hockey Centre in Sydney. 

Early signs in the game did not point towards the drama which would ensue.  Malaysia forced five first half penalty corners but Great Britain goalkeeper Ian Scanlon did well to keep them at bay.  Following one such set piece, play switched quickly to the other end of the pitch where Ian’s brother Martin broke the deadlock in the 26th minute with a sweetly struck reverse stick finish.

However, a sequence of re-awarded penalty corners saw Malaysia draw level on 31 minutes when Muhamad Azammi Adabi slotted home.  Haruinder Makbul Singh doubled the Malaysian lead only a minute later following a defensive lapse in the GB defence to make it 2-1 at the interval.

The second half started with promise, however neither Kenny Bain nor Johnny Kinder could convert penalty corner opportunities which came their way and  having weathered the storm, the Malaysians regrouped and struck a third goal when Mohd Nor Hafiq Abdul Gaffar deflected home from their sixth penalty corner.  With Ross Stott receiving a yellow card on 54 minutes, things looked bad for Team GB.

However, the last ten minutes proved to be a telling time with GB coping better in the heat and rotating their players on pitch.  Firstly, Kenny Bain stepped up to score from the penalty spot on 65 minutes after a Malaysian infringement on the line, only for the Malaysians to extend their lead through Abdul Gaffar to 4-2 with only four minutes remaining. 

With Bain now on a yellow card and GB again down to 10 players, they were handed a lifeline by captain Gordon McIntyre when he scored from a well worked penalty corner on 67 minutes.  With time running out, Lewis Prosser was the hero when he shot past the Malaysian keeper from the inside right channel at the top of the circle to make it 4-4 on the final whistle.

Post match, Head Coach Bobby Crutchley reflected, “This was a tough game in challenging conditions and against tenacious opposition.  The fact that we tried to do the right things for 70 minutes and kept playing until the final whistle ensured we can something in to Thursday’s game versus India.”

 Crutchley continued, “It was a real mixed bag for us.  There were some spells of really good hockey, but too many bad spells too.  We turned the ball over too much and the Malaysians counter-attacked well.  What was pleasing was the physical conditioning of the guys which enabled them to come back and get their deserved reward with a goal in the last minute, despite the incredibly hot conditions.”
 
Captain McIntyre said, “It was a pretty emotional game because we shouldn’t have gone down that easily, we were the better team and we showed that by coming back and getting the draw.  Defensively we need to be a bit tighter and not give away so many corners.  The work rate was exceptional though, we ran them into the ground with only ten men at the end.”
 
Goal scoring hero Lewis Prosser said of the moment the ball hit the net, “I just concentrated on hitting the ball into the bottom corner.  I’m really proud to score my first goal for Great Britain, although I couldn’t breathe with everyone jumping on me to celebrate!”
 
Looking ahead to the rest of the competition Crutchley said, “We’ve got India next, they will be very well organised so it’ll be a tough game, but it’s a great challenge and we’re looking forward to it.”

SQUADS

Women

Started
Laura Bartlett (Scotland & Milne Craig Western)
Sophie Bray (England & University of Birmingham)
Susie Gilbert (England & University of Birmingham)
Jenny Hall (England & Canterbury)
Maddie Hinch (England & Loughborough University)
Dilly Newton (England & Clifton)
Harriet Pearce (England & Clifton)
Lauren Turner (England & Leicester)
Laura Unsworth (England & Loughborough University)
Becky Ward (Scotland & Dundee Wanderers)
Nicky White (England & Loughborough University)

Substitutes Used
Takara Haines (England & Trojans)
Katie Long (England & Leicester)
Sarah Page (England & University of Birmingham)
Georgie Twigg (England & Clifton)
Hollie Webb (England & Cannock)

Men
Started
Ben Arnold (England & Beeston)
Kenny Bain (Scotland & Kelburne)
Nick Catlin (England & Loughborough Students)
David Condon (England & Loughborough Students)
Richie Dawson-Smith (England & Bowdon)
Marc Edwards (England & Loughborough Students)
Chris Gregg (England & Loughborough Students)
Johnny Kinder (England & Fareham)
Gordon McIntyre (Scotland & Kelburne)
Lewis Prosser (Wales & Team Bath Buccaneers)
Ian Scanlon (England & Hampstead & Westminster)

Substitutes Used
David Beckett (England & Loughborough Students)
Simon Faulkner (England & Loughborough Students)
Martin Scanlon (England & Loughborough Students)
Ross Stott (Scotland & Kelburne)
Henry Weir (England & Loughborough Students)