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WHU News Room >
16 August 2005 (PR14/05)
WELSH WOMEN DEFEATED BY SPAIN
As part of their final preparations for the forthcoming European
Nations tournament Wales Women travelled to Spain to play three
matches against that country’s U-21 squad.
In the first game Wales appeared very subdued which resulted in
a very poor performance and although Ria Male played
exceptionally well in the second half, Wales could not create
any clear cut chances and struggled to maintain possession. The
home team’s greater desire showed through and it was no surprise
that Wales conceded three goals to give the home team an early
lead in the series.
The second match proved that Wales had recovered from the
previous days disappointment and although conceding a goal after
only 4 minutes, fought back to equalise through a Tina Evans
penalty corner (her first for Wales). Spain again took the lead
but early in the second half Beth Fisher scored her third goal
in four games to claw her team back into the match following
another penalty corner goal. Unfortunately some missed defensive
tackles resulted in Spain scoring the winning goal shortly
before the end.
In the final match Wales again conceded an early goal when their
defence failed to deal with an overhead ball into the circle.
Despite Sarah Thomas coming close after a fine run from Carys
Hopkins, Wales continued to have trouble in clearing the ball
and after being caught in possession the second goal was
conceded after 31 minutes. Turning round two goals behind, Sarah
Ashworth returned to the field after having received a
suspension and immediately pulled one goal back from a penalty
corner. Spain rallied and scored their own penalty corner and
despite Wales throwing everything into attack could not break
the defence, despite hitting the post.
Manager Andy Ible said “it proved to be very interesting seeing
the players in different positions and formations and despite
the three defeats, we have learned a lot from the tour”.
Assistant Coach Mark Hopkins added “we now have all the jigsaw
pieces in place and whilst the results were disappointing it
proved to be an excellent opportunity for players to fulfil
their potential. We are now much more optimistic for the
European Nations.”
[ends]
For information regarding the Welsh Hockey Union, please contact
Chris Brewer on 029 2057 3945 or 07976 982092
Please note: Information published in news
stories was correct at the time of publication. Information,
circumstances and data may have chance since.
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