23rd August 2010
Welsh Veterans Ladies
Wales having hosted the first Women's Four Nations Hockey Masters event in Swansea in June, Ireland returned the favour this weekend with an invitation to their own tri-nations tournament at their excellent, purpose built hockey facility at Lisnagarvey.
Wales 1, England 1
Competition got underway at mid-day with Wales taking on England. As expected, this would be a close and hard-fought match with both sides wanting to make a positive start to the weekend. Wales took the initiative early on, scoring through an excellent short corner strike from Tracy Bow and almost claimed a second just minutes later, had the ball not gone in off an attacking foot! A hastily put together Welsh mid-field and forward line combined well to keep England hemmed into their own half for much of the first period. Some hard work by Nicky Owen and hard running by Kate Morgan created numerous chances to score, which unfortunately went unconverted. England were not without the occasional threat however, with one England attack leading to a shot on goal, deflected by keeper Emma Olivari and unfortunately connecting quite colourfully with the chin of Claire Davies, who subsequently missed the rest of the game.
Despite the slim lead, Wales appeared to be thoroughly in control of the game at half time, having had most of the possession and territorial advantage. This continued to be the state of play well into the 2nd half with England looking unlikely to break down a strong Welsh back four and keeper. Wales were to regret their lack of finishing however, as a rare England foray into the D and a rarer defensive mistake led to a weak shot beating an unsighted keeper, coming back off the post and rolling along the goal line before being finally slammed home. With less than 10 minutes to go, Wales were unable to restore an otherwise well-deserved lead.
Wales 1, Ireland 2
England Ladies, having been scheduled just the one game today, were able to celebrate their "Great Escape" with a few beers at the club house, from which vantage point they were able to watch Wales play Ireland on little more than an hour's rest. Unsurprisingly, the Welsh girls got off to a sluggish start against a home side that was well rested and full of running.
Tired Welsh legs and a lack of overall pace in mid-field were identified and ruthlessly capitalised on, with an Irish break down the right, and a nicely weighted ball being met top-D by a speedy, unmarked forward and the resulting first-time shot glanced off the hip of the sliding Welsh keeper before finding the net. Wales were down, but certainly not out and they worked their way back into the game, creating several chances of their own before half time, Jane Rowley just failing to control a delicious pass from Nicola Roberts. But again, their hard work went unrewarded as they continued to lack a finishing touch.
Ireland looked to have secured all three points following the successful conversion of a penalty flick early in the 2nd half and with a two goal cushion, they pressed forward in greater confidence and greater numbers. But a good rapport between Bow at sweeper, Janine Jones Pritchard at left back and Eirian Thomas on the right curtailed Irish options, and pro-active keeping from Olivari kept clear-cut chances to a minimum.
With 12 minutes to go, Morgan was finally rewarded for her tireless running with a blistering shot from a ridiculous angle that left the England keeper red-faced and halved the Welsh deficit. Wales continued to dig deep with Kath Malinovsky and Jan Jones spoiling the Irish party in mid-field and Bow continuing to send searching balls out of defence to keep Ireland on the defensive for much of the last 10 minutes. A late penalty corner almost served to steal back a point for Wales but Bow's on-target drive was deflected just wide of the post... and the host team was half way to winning their first tournament.
On Sunday, Ireland beat England 2 - 1 to crown themselves champions of their own tournament leaving Wales as joint runners-up.
