Women's Hockey: England v Wales

Two goals in five minutes sunk a Welsh team who didn’t help themselves by conceding turnovers too often. English attackers were quick to pounce on those frailties, which Wales should not blame on the overcast conditions and light winds. Welsh keeper Charlotte Boyle needed to spread herself early on to deny Amy Simmons, and the wavy-haired Louise Taylor pushed a short corner wide, both chances coming during a sustained bout of England pressure. When some Welsh players thought there had been a short corner awarded and as such had taken the familiar positions up the pitch, their concentration lapsed when they trotted back for the actually-awarded free hit; their slowness let in Emma Speake’s six-yard sweep.

Wales had trouble clearing their lines all game, particularly defender Helen Jelley whose mind wobbled all game when she tried hard chips forward, always finding a white shirt. But it was individual skill down the left by England’s Nicola Ward, rounding a baffled defender, which deserved the team’s second goal, a reverse-hit shot by Siobhan Aherne. As sticks tangled and the Welsh coach blamed the spectating men’s team’s roars for swaying any fifty-fifty decisions, Boyle saved well low with her pad. Upfront, Jo Tolson and Victoria Whitehouse threatened well but sometimes lacked the final ball.

Returning to the turf five minutes before their opponents, England dominated the second half from the front, finding acres of space into which to run and sometimes drawing applause for their blocks and one-touch hockey, the vanguard led by Amy Kokkinos. Wales did find the net but the shot was hit in too hard and high to count, but they were otherwise unable to attack, their goal under the cosh. Aherne and company ran rings around them, and she herself kept in an impossible ball to set up Amy Bryant for another great chance. Simmons missed by six inches and a cross-cum-shot from a narrow angle and couldn’t get her stick in the right place at the far post after Wendy Andrews had flicked it upwards towards a gaping net. Pressure told, though, as Simmons finally had her goal, the ball hitting a foot on the Welsh line after a lucky bounce had helped her win the ball herself. The officials, baffling the crowd sometimes with their decisions, were kind enough not to card the Welshwoman Anna Pennington for a swipe from behind, afraid perhaps of her two blue gloves. She and her teammates could not pass Isabella Williamson in the England goal, whose clean sheet will give the team confidence for their clash with Scotland. They were allowed to play the hockey which Northern Ireland had denied them; Wales, meanwhile, will hope for more room to move in their final game, and avoid a potential wooden spoon.