Great Britain men out class France

A hat-trick from Reading’s Tom Carson helped Great Britain to a convincing win over France with a dominant display. Despite falling behind to Hugo Genestet’s early penalty corner it was almost one-way traffic thereafter as seven different players got their names on the score sheet for Bobby Crutchley’s side.

Despite a high tempo start from the home side it was the French who took the lead in the eighth minute. Hugo Genestet’s high drag flick found the net beyond goalkeeper James Bailey to his right.

It took Great Britain just three minutes to restore parity. Debutant Sam Ward did well to get away down the right and crossed for Tom Carson who made no mistake to make it 1-1.
Both Mark Gleghorne and Ward went close before the quarter was out but it wasn’t until the 19^th minute that Great Britain took the lead through an Adam Dixon penalty corner. Four minutes later, Captain Barry Middleton won the ball high up the pitch and drove into the circle before giving Edgar Reynaud in the French goal no chance with a splendid reverse stick strike.

Great Britain picked up where they left off after the break and Harry Martin and David Beckett added two more within a minute of each other to make the score 5-1. The strike was Beckett’s first goal in senior international hockey. David Condon got in on the act with the sixth and Carson grabbed another from a penalty corner. There was no let up as Reynaud did well to keep out a penalty corner from Dan Coultas before Carson grabbed his hat-trick from a well-worked open play goal. There was still time for Wimbledon’s Phil Roper to get his name on the score sheet with a lovely flicked finish over the goalkeeper’s shoulder, making the score 9-1, before the final whistle.

England Head Coach Bobby Crutchley on coaching the Great Britain side;“With the Great Britain programme we’re central all the time so it doesn’t feel like much of a change. The non-English players are with us a lot and it’s great to give them the opportunity to play a bit more. It’ll be the same when we go to Spain in November.”

“At this stage we’re looking primarily at the performance. Teams are at different stages of preparation and that’s why sometimes you get scores like this. I was pleased that we kept the intensity in the game throughout. It wasn’t perfect but we built some momentum and some dominance and the score took care of itself.”

Great Britain Squad for first test against France

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