Young German side loose to Germany 4-1

Test Match, Hamburg, Thursday 2 October 2008

Germany 4 (1)

Fanny Rinne 26, 55, 65 (PC, PC, PC)

Julia Muller 51 (PC)

England 1 (0)

Sally Walton 40 (PS)

With England’s Olympians still resting it was a young and inexperienced England side that tonight faced a strong Germany side still reeling from the disappointment of losing their Olympic crown in Beijing just last month.

In a game which Germany controlled for the most part it was the set piece wizardry of Fanny Rinne that ultimately decided the outcome, although it was by no means one-way traffic.

Loughborough Students’ Maddie Hinch in the England goal was called upon early, pulling off good saves in the eighth and tenth minutes before Rinne opened the scoring in the 26^th minute after Germany were awarded a penalty corner; a drag flick finding the backboard low to Hinch’s left.

The score remained 1-0 until after the break when Captain Sally Walton, earning her 40^th senior cap, robbed a German player and broke forward, sending a good pass to Sarah Page whose shot was illegally stopped on the goal line. The resulting penalty stroke was converted by the Bowdon Hightown player, Walton.

After conceding the equaliser Germany came back at England, putting the visitors under enough pressure to win another corner; this time it was Julia Muller who netted from the set piece to give German the lead again in the 51^st minute.

What followed was a lesson in the art of the low drag flick as Rinne scored again from another set piece just four minutes later, this time down to Hinch’s right, and then completed her hat-trick with an identical penalty corner with just five minutes remaining.

Despite the goals, England finished the match strongly, creating several chances including a good reverse shot from debutant Page which was saved well by the German goalkeeper who responded quickly to deny Katie Long from the rebound.

After the match Assistant Coach Karen Brown was happy with the performance of her side: “Considering the German’s were missing just three of the 16 players that played at the Olympic Games in Beijing the performance of our young and inexperienced squad was pleasing. There were some good individual performances and these will need to be repeated tomorrow if we are to be competitive again”.

The two sides meet again tomorrow at 1300hrs local time (1200BST).

Started

Tash Brennan (Canterbury & England)
Hayley Brown (Canterbury & England)

Gemma Darrington (Leicester & England)

Susie Gilbert (Birmingham Uni & England)

Maddie Hinch (Loughborough Students & England)

Katie Long (Leicester & England)

Sarah Page (Birmingham University & England)

Sam Quek (Bowdon Hightown & England)

Natalie Seymour (Canterbury & England)

Chloe Strong (Pinoke & England)

Sally Walton (Bowdon Hightown & England)