A tough final game against hosts Slovenia brings our GB junior men’s Euro journey to an end - June 26, 2021

Great Britain U17s have ended their European Qualification tournament in Maribor with a defeat by hosts Slovenia, 15-6 (3-2, 4-1, 2-1, 6-2)

GB have had some tough games against host nations in European qualifiers down the years, and this Slovenia side in Maribor would be no exception.

The teams were evenly matched for the first half of the game, but with Slovenia having already played one fewer game than Great Britain, they were far fresher. GB on the other hand had to play two games yesterday, one of which was against an extraordinarily strong Russian side – which Slovenia are yet to play.

Charles Kingsmill won the first swim off to set GB on their way, but the hosts opened the scoring.

However Kingsmill quickly silenced the home support with a cannon of a shot that kissed the left-hand post on its way in to make it 1-1.

Slovenia kept focus, feeding off the atmosphere by converting another extra-play situation. However, GB remained resilient, and Charles Kingsmill scored a silky backhand from the pit to level the scores at 2-2.

Then midway through the quarter, Slovenia took the lead again from the pit. It was Gasper Ficur who somehow managed to pull off a clever flick to give his side the advantage.

Slovenia would win the second swim-off, and it proved to be beneficial for them, as Slovenia’s Jasa Lah rifled the ball past Ben Urquhart into the top left corner. Soon after, he added another from position four, putting the ball in the same place as he had just moments before.

At 5-2, Great Britain desperately needed the next goal, which arrived a few moments later when Harry Bentham scored on the counter. The player from Manchester found himself in space on the right-hand side with only the keeper to beat – which he did. Not long after, however, Great Britain were caught napping as Slovenia number 10, Aleksander Cerar slotted home his second of the game, to make the score 6-3.

With a minute to go in the quarter, Slovenia scored again; 7-3 to the hosts at the turnaround.

Great Britain won the swim off in the third courtesy of Jamie Bond but could only hit the crossbar on their first attack. However, when Slovenia’s Nikola Rajlic flicked the ball away he was excluded, allowing Josh Luff to finish off a well-worked man-up on the left-hand side.

Slovenia, however, further added to their lead against a now tired-looking GB to make it 8-4. The score came when a quick pass to the post found Gasper Ficur, who finished calmly.

Slovenia added their ninth from a 5m penalty after a Harry Bentham exclusion. Great Britain trailed by 9 goals to 4 going into the last quarter.

Frankie Docking-Smith won the ball to give Great Britain possession first, however, Slovenia scored three unanswered goals.

With the score at 12-4, it was important that GB stayed resolute. They did, and Charles Kingsmill converted from close range from Max Hubrich’s cross cage pass.

Hubrich then turned defender, and stopped Slovenia from a certain goal with a fantastic goal-line block to keep the score at 12-5.

Tim Kacic for Slovenia scored from a penalty fired into the top right corner after being impeded by George Glover on the counter, before 2 more quick goals made it 14-5 to Slovenia.

The game ended on a high for GB, with a clean bounce shot from the right by Jamie Bond into the net to end the game 15-6.

A magnificent effort was put in by the entire Great Britain squad throughout this tournament and fantastic to see us competing on the international stage again.

Head Coach Claudio Palumbo can be proud of all his players, who left everything in the pool and can now build on this excellent experience.

Thanks for all the support back home, and to our hosts for putting on such a great competition.

Match report: James Spencer Boyce

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