England Draw series against European Champions.

Saturday 19^th Sunday 20^th June 2009-06-21

Report and Photos from John Coxon

Following their promising draw with Spain in two tests at Nottingham, the 18 strong new England senior squad travelled to Russelheim this weekend for two further test matches as part of their ongoing preparation for the Women's Champions Trophy in Sydney and the EuroHockey Nations Championships in Amsterdam this summer. At the riverside Russelheimer Ruder-Klub against the Germans (current Europeans champions) the young England squad came out 3-1 winners in the first test but alas went down 3-1 today.

england vs germany England Draw series against European Champions.

The Germans took the lead this morning after Fanny Rinne scored after only nine minutes courtesy of a drag flick from a penalty corner. On twenty seven minutes , after a fine individual run down the field , Janne Müller-Wieland hit home a second. The German’s were always technically solid in short corner routines and it was Janine Beermann who converted a short on 47 minutes put them three in front. Helen Richardson got a fine individual consolation goal ten minutes from full time. Danny Kerry conceded that sloppy defending of shorts in the first half let the German’s get ahead but declared he was pleased with the battling performance put up by this young squad.

Saturday’s game had featured a strong first appearance for England from Loughborough University student Nicola White and Birmingham University’s Sussie Gilbert scoring her first England goal. The squad took an early lead with Chloe Rogers hit in from a short on nine minutes. Hightown’s Jo Ellis benefited from some fine attacking play down the right wing involving White and netting with a fine reverse stick hit. In the second half, following a bad tackle in the D, Fanny Rinne buried a penalty flick and then the Germans drew level on 57 minutes. This following a short corner which Beth Storry saved initially but Lydia Haase managed to find the net from the lose ball. Throughout the game the English squad were always dangerous moving forward in attack and their determination was rewarded on 63 minutes with a fine reverse stick field goal from Gilbert struck from the edge of the D.

Next on the agenda, the Squad will attend a training camp before they leave for Sydney and the Champions Trophy held between 11-19 July. England qualified for this competition with Great Britain’s finishing sixth at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games along with the Netherlands, Germany, Argentina, Australia and China. Regardless of their finishing position in this tournament, England have a guaranteed place in the 2010 Champions Trophy as hosts July 10^th 2010.