A very gutsy performance saw GB women squeeze past Slovakia in their final pool game at the European Championships - September 14, 2016

There were nerves aplenty as polo fans gathered in the outskirts of The Hague for GB’s third and final pool stage game with much resting on the outcome. Lose the game and the top half of the table would be all but closed to GB, whereas a win would offer the prospect of a game against Serbia and a possible route to the upper echelons of the Championship.

Q1 saw a bright start from Slovakia who were shooting accurately from distance, netting 3 times with GB responding just once with a goal from Isobel Howe.

The second quarter was marginally better as the GB press began to function but Slovakia continued to widen the gap with 2 goals to GB’s single effort, scored by Hannah Patchett, and the Slovakian fans were in good heart and voice as the first half closed with Slovakia looking comfortable at 5-2

GB managed to stem the tide in the third and there was a sense that momentum was beginning to swing in favour of the hard working GB team. Although GB’s offensive game on extra was not going well, the team’s defensive play was outstanding and when Hannah Patchett put away a stunning long range effort the margin remained at just 3 as the quarter closed 6-3.

The final quarter belonged to GB as Annie Clapperton converted followed by Isobel Howe for her second of the game. The team then clawed its way back to parity with under 1:30 remaining on the clock as Izzy Dean scored with a near-post bouncer, before Annie Clapperton scored the last gasp winner in the final seconds.

Afterwards Coach Nousios praised the great character which the team showed in going from 5-2 down at half time to securing a 6-7 win and looking forward to the next match commented, “the Serbia game will be hard but if we show the qualities that we demonstrated in the final stages of the game today then we can win”.

Team Manager Rosie Morris, highlighted the role of the leaders in the team who gave the rest of the team a confidence boost going into the second half of the game. One of those senior players, Vice Captain, Kathy Rogers identified that the win was down to a 100% effort from the whole team, “it was stressful when we went behind but Coach Nousios told us to keep concentrating and fighting to the end”

Scorers

Isobel Howe 2

Hannah Patchett 2

Annie Clapperton 2

Izzy Dean 1

Final score Slovakia 6 – GB 7 (3-1, 2-1, 1-1, 0-4)

GB’s next game is against Serbia on Thurs 15^th at 3pm local time. @ENGwaterpolo will be live streaming on Periscope and covering on twitter.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.