England kept down to four

by Pat Rowley (22.8.2009)

When many of the minnows were crushed, England’s women’s team were content to cruise to a 4-0 win over Russia on the first day of the
EuroHockey Nations Championship in Amsterdam.

Helen Richardson popped in a corner rebound to give England an early lead and England scored twice inside a minute on the half hour to take a 3-0 lead into the (half time) break.

Their second goal was smashed into the Russian goal with a swat shot by Joanne Ellis and immediately after another smart combination, Nicola White stepped up to score her first international goal.

But England had a frustrating second half, displaying aggressive attacking play without being able to finish anything.

A fourth goal was long overdue when Sally Walton’s corner shot rocketed into the roof of the net off a Russian stick.

Russian coach Vladimir Kobzev said he was delighted his team kept the score down to 4-0.

The Dutch were the day’s big winners. Their women whom England play today, won 10-0 against the cosmopolitan Azerbaijan team while their men beat Poland 9-0.

Scotland’s women’s team conceded a goal in the first minutes of the opening match of the event and never recovered, losing 3-1 to higher
ranked Spain.

The aggressive Raquel Huertas scored in the 7th minute and Silvia Munoz added a second for Spain before half-time.

Scotland came out more purposefully for the second half and soon pulled back a goal when Holly Cram snapped up a rebound. But Spain
continued to be a yard quicker and Rocio Ybarra added their third.

Ireland fared even worse than Scotland in the other women’s pool B match, losing 7-0 to Germany. It was their heaviest ever defeat by the
Germans.

copy for Sunday Express 23.8.2009