Men's Hockey: Wales v England

An exciting final fifteen minutes were an apt close for a very evenly-matched contest in which the silkiest players from Welsh universities held onto their lead despite Alex Simpson’s well-taken brace. Had the English captain Josh Gunnell not been sinbinned after his second goal, the team in white would perhaps have capitalised on lapses in the Welsh concentration late on. As it was, Wales began the tournament with three deserved points, courtesy of a pair of goals by Mark Whatling.

In the fifth minute, astonishing close control by Huw Proctor helped him round two men, feed Whatling and watch his teammate pass the English keeper Chris Scott and add a cool finish. England’s loose defence was doing more harm than good, leading to Whatling finding the net again after great work down the left-hand side. Sadly for Wales, Proctor’s skills could offer the game no more, their owner throwing away his stick in disgust at his body’s failings. Fortunately, there were other equally-skilled players in their ranks; Joe Naughalty excelled time and again as he pushed forwards stockily, drawing several fouls from a haggard England. His lightly-chipped dribbling led to a penalty flick on the half-hour which was pushed too far left of the English post by the otherwise-commanding Welsh captain Ben Croxall, Whatling’s Glamorgan teammate, Scott diving the other way. Just before the Welsh goalie James Fortnum had made three good saves, and England had had their ‘goal’ disallowed due to the award of a short corner a second before the ball had found the net, Phil Wilkinson’s four-yard effort squeezed under Scott, whose slothful dive could not stop Wales’ third from entering his goal, a bad error for a talented keeper.

Meanwhile, his teammates outfield were too often shooting from too far outside the D, wishing for a ricochet or a stray stick or foot. Alternative tactics were welcome, and led to Simpson’s first goal soon after half-time, his shot from an impossible angle very well taken. Even Naughalty was floored by a stray arm as England pressed forward and a well-worked short corner brought Simpson his second when deflecting a teammate’s shot over Fortnum’s premature dive. It was Gunnell’s slight swipe at a Welsh leg, coming after Daniel Mills (of Leeds Uni, as with Simpson and Gunnell) had been green-triangled for zealous challenges, that led to his sinbin on fifty-five minutes, as temperament hotted up. The English coach, as well as the crowd, were apoplectic with scorn for the officials, though not as greatly as the Welsh coach with his lackadaisical team who pushed a short corner all the way to the half-way line, the ball skidding across the turf. Naughalty had another shot well saved by Scott in the ‘power play’ period which ended when Gunnell returned to the pitch to see Simpson slip over a challenge to give England a short corner. Oliver Howick, also of Leeds, shot nanometres wide as the Welsh coach called for “simple hockey”, the slender lead showing. In the final exchanges, England had two good attacks, as Howick continued to bazooka the ball into the D, touched on inches the wrong side of the post by a teammate, the crowd gasping at the drama.

The Welshmen came away with the victory testament to their early dominance, and didn’t miss Proctor too badly, though his injury looked serious enough to keep him as a spectator for the remaining games. England, meanwhile, showed enough promise to threaten NI and Scotland, providing they keep their heads if and when they fall behind, regardless of perceived unfairness of the officiating.