England women dominate Spain in Euro Hockey opener
ENGLAND 3 (2) Hannah Macleod 4 (PC) Kate Walsh 18 (PC) Lily Owsley 42 (FG)
SPAIN 0 (0)
England's women got the TriFinance EuroHockey Championships off to a fantastic start with a dominant 3-0 victory over Spain. With goals from Hannah Macleod, Kate Walsh and Lily Owsley it was a real team performance from head coach Jason Lee's side, as they played strong attacking hockey against a team renowned for its defensive strength.
It was London 2012 Olympian Hannah Macleod who got England off the mark when she fired home from a penalty corner in the fourth minute. Captain Kate Walsh then made it 2-0 with a low drag flick to the left of Spain's Lopez de Eguilaz in goal to take her side into the break with a comfortable lead.
After the break Lily Owsley scored her second senior international goal from close range after some fantastic work from Alex Danson. At 3-0 the game was all but over and despite some nervy moments the team kept their clean sheet and took the three points.
In the other Pool B game Scotland faced Germany and it was Germany who took the win, but with only one goal scored England will sit at the top of the group going into day two.
Speaking after the game head coach Jason Lee said, "We drew with Spain 1-1 at the Investec World League and we knew it would be a tight and difficult game for us today. They are a good defensive side so it was very pleasing to get a 3-0 win today. It was good to score from a couple of early corners and I think on another day we might have scored a few more, but we showed some first game nerves towards the end which probably stopped us playing the style we wanted. But with a 3-0 lead the job had already been done, so I'm very happy."
When questioned further about the difference between the performance at the Investec World League, Lee added, "We played a different system in this game compared to the one at Chiswick. We've effectively doubled our preparation time in from the last tournament and the girls have got incrementally better in a lot of areas since June." And commenting on the team's chances at the tournament, he said, "We're just taking one game at a time and we haven't really set any specific targets about where we'll finish. Of course there's been plenty said about the colour of the medals the girls have won in the past and obviously we'd really like to change that, but for now we're just taking each game as it comes."
Captain Kate Walsh was full of praise for her team following the game, "We're as happy as we could be and scoring two early goals helped settle the nerves. We have a lot more to give so it was a good start. We've been working hard on our penalty corners and hopefully that will continue to pay dividends as it has done today."
On the EuroHockey Championships in general she added "I love the venue and it's going to be a fantastic tournament. It's the old cliché - we'll take one game at a time but we're happy with today's performance."
Click here to read the full match report.
England's next game is tomorrow at 13:00 (UK time) when they will face Germany. Watch it live on the BBC Red Button and Eurosport.
Meanwhile England's men will be in action tomorrow at 09:00am (UK time) in their first match against Poland. Watch it live on the BBC Red Button and Eurosport.
