England face Germany in Euro Semis

25th August 2009

England’s women have secured a valuable semi final spot at the EuroHockey Nations Championships in Amstelveen after beating Azerbaijan 4-1 courtesy of goals from Chloe Rogers, Alex Danson and a Susie Gilbert double.  The result secures not only the opportunity to compete for a medal but a guaranteed place at next year’s World Cup, which will be held in Rosario, Argentina, from 30 August to 12 September 2010.

Chloe Rogers gave England the lead after quarter of an hour, creating the space for herself with some excellent skill down the inside right channel.  Moving forward she beat two defenders before driving the ball hard across the goalkeeper and into the back of the goal.

Alex Danson, who plays her club hockey in the Netherlands for Klein Zwitserland, doubled England’s lead in the 24th minute. A cross from the English right hand side deflected up off an Azerbaijani stick and Danson was on hand to enthusiastically volley the ball home, much to the delight of the crowd.

Disappointingly for England they let their opponents back into the game before half time with a goal out of nothing.  England failed to deal with a long ball down the Azerbaijan right and after several missed tackles Mi Kyung Alieva put the ball beyond Becky Duggan, who replaced the injured Beth Storry in goal for today’s match.

Danny Kerry reiterated the game plan to his charges at half time and apart from a shaky spell at the start of the second period they stuck to it well, netting twice more in the second half after patient build up play.

Both goals came from the stick of University of Birmingham midfielder Susie Gilbert but it was the ingenuity of Alex Danson that created them.  For Gilbert’s first, on 38 minutes, Danson combined well with Nic White to go past two defenders, creating the space for a pass across the circle which Gilbert finished off from close range.

And with 12 minutes remaining Gilbert had her second and England’s fourth, again after impressive skill from Danson.  Drawing the defence out of position, she looked for a teammate in the middle and it was Gilbert that reacted quickest in the defensive panic Danson had created to score on her reverse stick.

The result confirms England’s place in the semi finals and at the 2010 World Cup in Argentina and Head Coach Danny Kerry was understandably pleased with the outcome: “Again I thought we played well today and the team stuck to its instructions well.  Azerbaijan is a very different team to the sides that we are used to playing against and patience was the key today against a packed defence.  We were disappointed to lose a goal at the time and in the manner that we did but all in all I’m very pleased with the result and, of course, World Cup qualification.  The task now is to beat Germany in the semi final, which won’t be easy.”

England captain Kate Walsh (pictured, front) hit a personal milestone today when she competed in her 150th senior international match for England.  The news on goalkeeper Beth Storry, who was substituted injured during Sunday’s defeat to the Netherlands, is that she sustained a dislocated right shoulder and will sit out the remainder of the tournament.

England must now prepare for their semi final match on Thursday.  Due to the impressive goal difference that the Netherlands already enjoys, they are all but guaranteed to top the pool no matter their result against Russia later this evening.  England’s likely finishing position of second place in Pool A will set up a rematch of the semi final two years ago in Manchester, when they faced Germany.  On that occasion the Germans won the match 2-1 but Danny Kerry’s young side will be hoping to go one better when they take to the field against the Pool B toppers this time around.  That semi final, semi final two, is scheduled to take place at 19:00 local time (18:00 BST) on Thursday