EuroHockey Trophy
31st May v Slavia Praha 1 -
Swansea entered this game with a real focus on the job to be done – win and secure third place to enable them to be matched up against the Swiss, by far the weakest team in Pool B, for the all important cross over game. The girls started really well, they kept possession and very confidently took the game to the Czechs. Swansea, however, had a warning when they gained a penalty corner on 12 minutes. This was well defended by Kat Budd who was off the line to snuff out the shot. A move down the left channel continued right into the Swansea circle and Abbey Bintcliffe made two fine saves on the near post on 15 minutes. Robyn Wilford then took the ball up the middle and passed to Kat who drove into the D. The keeper couldn’t control the ball and Jaynaya Boyles almost scrambled the ball over the line. From this point on it was all Swansea. They had the Czechs reeling as they came forward with good passing movements and from a free hit on the right taken by Natalie Blyth, Bridgette almost got the ball into the goal. Then Sian Fowler was obstructed badly outside the circle to win a penalty corner which couldn’t be converted. Then some lovely inter passing between firstly Angharad Griffiths and Kat split the defence open only for the ball to run away off the line and then Sian and Jaynaya combined well for Sian to force a penalty corner. This time the ball was switched to Cat who fired in the shot and Sian’s deflection went just wide of the post. In one of the few Czech breaks Natalie was on hand to make a strong, clean tackle. They came again at the Swansea defence and on 24 minutes Abbey made a big save again on the near post. Generally, however, the defence was playing really well with good communication and timely interceptions when required. The Swansea midfield was also functioning really well with Robyn making good progress up the middle and Sian, Sarah Lowman and Kat working well off one another to create opportunities for Bridgette, Becky Treharne and Jaynaya. Just before half time, with Swansea pushing forward, their move broke down and the Czech strikers raced forward to create a 3 on 1 with Abbey in goal but Abbey made a good save. Angharad then took the ball the length of the pitch with her great 3 D skills, won a free hit but the hooter sounded. Well led by captain Fran Williams, this was a massively improved performance on the previous two games.
Swansea came out for the second half in very determined mood and sought to maintain their control. The Czechs, however, had other ideas and Swansea now had to defend seriously but, from Danielle through to Fran, the defence was strong and firm. Some excellent one touch passing saw the Czechs actually get the ball into the Swansea goal on 55 minutes but it was disallowed for the use of a foot. After calmly absorbing much of the pressure Swansea had their own moments as first Sian made a number of runs down the right and then Sarah drove forward down the left. From one of Sian’s crosses Robyn got in a shot on goal which was well saved by the keeper. As the clock ticked on to 67 minutes Natalie sent in a hard free hit from the right, Bridgette collected well and directed the ball into the Czech goal on her reverse to add to the goal which should have been credited to her in the previous game. The Czechs came back hard as they saw their own opportunity for survival disappearing. On 69 minutes they were awarded a PC which Abbey saved well and then with just 20 seconds left in the game the umpire awarded another PC for what she interpreted as an offence way outside the D. The Czechs quickly took the corner and struck the ball into the Swansea goal as the hooter sounded. This was a cruel ending to a game in which Swansea were by far the better team on the day but failed to keep control of the final crucial minutes in their own hands and paid the penalty.
Thanks to Rob Fowler for the report