Great Britain narrowly took the spoils in the first of three encounters against Spain in Valencia. Taking on the role of Skipper, Alex Danson led the way scoring the only goal of the game as she fired home a shot from the top of the circle in the 37th minute to make it 1-0 to Great Britain. The goal marked her 76th in an international shirt (29 for GB, 47 for England).
Spain pushed Great Britain all the way and were unlucky not to score from a couple of penalty corner and open play opportunities in the closing stages of the match, but Danny Kerry’s side held on to take the first victory in the series.
Newcomer to the centralised training squad, 24 year old Holly Payne, made her international debut in what was the 37th encounter between these two sides. There were also Great Britain debuts for two Scottish athletes, goalkeeper Amy Gibson who came on for Maddie Hinch at the half-time break and Holcombe’s Sarah Robertson. Robertson’s club teammate Lucy Wood, who will be a familiar name to those who followed England at the Commonwealth Games, also pulled on a Great Britain shirt for the first time.
Speaking after the game Great Britain Head Coach Danny Kerry said: “It wasn’t a great performance from us, Spain could have easily won today and we rode our luck at times. Credit to Spain, they are a much improved side from the last time I saw them play and they deserved to get something out of the game. We were very much reliant on the experience of Kate Richardson-Walsh and Laura Unsworth in our defence today as they covered up a lot of our play. These test matches are so important for us to develop the squad and ensure the less experienced players get to play at the very top level before we go into major tournaments. I’m confident we’ll get better over the next two games.”
Great Britain’s next match against Spain will take place today at the same time [1530 UK time]. The three matches are taking place at Polideportivo Virgen del Carmen Betero, the same venue Kerry’s team will travel to in June when they battle for Olympic qualification at the FIH Hockey World League Semi Final.
Match information including scorers can be accessed via this link please be aware that Spain have opted to update the information following each match and not on a live basis.
Great Britain Women v Spain – Match 1
Name – Club
Started
Maddie Hinch – Holcombe
Joie Leigh – Clifton
Emily Maguire – Reading
Laura Unsworth – Holcombe
Sally Walton – Wakefield
Hollie Webb – Surbiton
Alex Danson – Reading
Kate Richardson-Walsh – Reading
Sarah Robertson – Holcombe
Susannah Townsend – Canterbury
Morag McLellan – Buckingham
Substitutes used
Grace Balsdon – Canterbury
Amy Gibson – Slough
Shona McCallin – Slough
Lily Owsley – University of Birmingham
Holly Payne – Leicester
Nicola White – Holcombe
Lucy Wood – Holcombe
Did not play
Georgie Twigg – Surbiton
Sophie Bray – East Grinstead
Steph Elliott – Holcombe
Susie Gilbert – Reading
