Great Britain one up against Spain

 

Spain 0 (0) Great Britain 1 (0) Alex Danson 37 FG

Great Britain narrowly took the spoils in the first of three encounters against Spain in Valencia today.

Taking up the role of Skipper, Alex Danson led the way scoring the only goal of the game as she fired home a shot from the top of the circle in the 37th minute to make it 1-0 to Great Britain. The goal marked her 48th in an international shirt.

Spain pushed Great Britain all the way and were unlucky not to score from a couple of penalty corner and open play opportunities in the closing stages of the match, but Danny Kerry’s side held on to take the first victory in the series.

There were also Great Britain debuts for Scotland goalkeeper Amy Gibson who subbed on for Maddie Hinch at the half-time break and Holcombe’s Sarah Robertson.

Robertson’s club teammate Lucy Wood, who will be a familiar name to those who followed England at the Commonwealth Games, also pulled on a Great Britain shirt for the first time.

Speaking after the game Great Britain Head Coach Danny Kerry said: “It wasn’t a great performance from us, Spain could have easily won today and we rode our luck at times. Credit to Spain, they are a much improved side from the last time I saw them play and they deserved to get something out of the game.

“We were very much reliant on the experience of Kate Richardson-Walsh and Laura Unsworth in our defence today as they covered up a lot of our play. These test matches are so important for us to develop the squad and ensure the less experienced players get to play at the very top level before we go into major tournaments. I’m confident we’ll get better over the next two games.”

Great Britain’s next match against Spain will take place tomorrow at the same time [1530 UK time]. The three matches are taking place at Polideportivo Virgen del Carmen Betero, the same venue Kerry’s team will travel to in June when they battle for Olympic qualification at the FIH Hockey World League Semi Final.

Match information including scorers can be accessed via this link http://tms.fih.ch/reports/competitions please be aware that Spain have opted to update the information following each match and not on a live basis.

Great Britain Women v Spain – Match 1

Started

Maddie Hinch – Holcombe

Joie Leigh – Clifton

Emily Maguire – Reading

Laura Unsworth – Holcombe

Sally Walton – Wakefield

Hollie Webb – Surbiton

Alex Danson – Reading

Kate Richardson-Walsh – Reading

Sarah Robertson – Holcombe

Susannah Townsend – Canterbury

Morag McLellan – Buckingham

Substitutes used

Grace Balsdon – Canterbury

Amy Gibson – Slough

Shona McCallin – Slough

Lily Owsley – University of Birmingham

Holly Payne – Leicester

Nicola White – Holcombe

Lucy Wood – Holcombe

Did not play

Georgie Twigg – Surbiton

Sophie Bray – East Grinstead

Steph Elliott – Holcombe

Susie Gilbert – Reading

 

Recent posts:

Back to all news
Back to top