England defeat South Africa in Rotterdamn

Despite the lively first five minutes from Great Britain, and after creating several half chances where they should perhaps have scored, Britain played well below par in a half that saw goals for Taylor of South Africa and Wright of GB.

Far too often GB were guilty of giving the ball away and in particular in defence. On nine minutes Great Britain were lucky not to be punished having been robbed in their own 25, the resulting move and shot coming to nothing. In a carbon copy error South Africa this time punished GB with Kathleen Taylor entering the circle and firing home past Katy Roberts in goal in the 15^th minute.

GB struggled to play their usual style of hockey although at times still threatened the South Africa goal. In the 25^th minute, and from GB’s second penalty corner, Lucilla Wright scored the equaliser, netting a rebound off the pads.

An improved but still below par second half performance from GB saw them score the only goal of the half to win the game 2-1 and put them into Saturday’s final. Chloe Rogers scored Britain’s winner from a penalty corner in the 48^th minute.

Despite further chances, the best being Helen Richardson’s shot from the top of the circle which was deflected over the bar by the goalkeeper, GB could not add to the score.

South Africa created a couple of opportunities at the other end, the best from a penalty corner and its retake. The first corner resulted in a good save from Roberts high to the right with the next effort hitting the side of the post from a straight strike.

Assistant Coach Karen Brown said afterwards, “This game came at a good time for us as South Africa posed us a number of problems and the players did not take enough responsibility to resolve them. It shows how crucial the next few weeks are going to be and how hard we are going to have to work on the training pitch.”