GB men fail to make bronze

OLYMPICS

BRONZE MEDAL PLAY-OFF

GREAT BRITAIN  1 AUSTRALIA  3

Team GB men failed to emulate their female equivalents
who won the bronze medal on Friday when they were outplayed by
Australia and went down 3-1 to finish fourth and no medal at the
Riverside Arena yesterday.

There was little between the teams in the opening minutes of the
first half until Aussie Simon Orchard found himself in plenty of
space at the top of the circle and unleashed a rocket into the roof
of the net past James Fair.   This strike sparked off a
period of one-way traffic for Australia as the British players
insisted in giving the ball away.

But in 28 minutes a probing run by Harry Martin won GB`s first
penalty corner, instead of shooting direct Ashley Jackson switched
the ball to Iain Lewers who slapped the ball past the keeper for
his first goal of the Olympic tournament.  The Ulsterman then
gave away a set piece to Australia just on the interval but James
Fair`s foot saved the day to ensure the scores were level at 1-1
going into the break.

Despite a scrappy beginning to the second period, it was the
Aussies who took the initiative and looked the most likely team to
score.  There followed a series of penalty corners to the
Wallabies, the first was saved by Fair, but the keeper`s helmet was
called upon to block the second, the ball then fell to Jamie Dwyer
who promptly forced the ball home for a 2-1 lead.

The now rampant Aussies had another set piece forced down by the
under pressure GB defence, then Fair had to make another great save
from Russell Ford to keep his side in the contest.  The third
goal for Australia came with a sense of inevitability, the initial
mistake was made by GB defender Alistair Wilson, Dwyer`s initial
shot was blocked by Fair but Kieran Govers was on hand to volley
the rebound home, and now there was no way back for Jason Lee`s
charges.

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