Danny Kerry will have to work hard to lift his side after Great Britain’s women suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Germany in the opening match of the women’s Olympic hockey tournament. The GB girls were quick to take the offensive, with Bowdon Hightown’s Jo Ellis twice finding herself unmarked in the circle with crosses from the right. But it was the Germans who were to draw first blood with Fanny Rinne striking a penalty corner high into the top of the net. GB made an encouraging recovery when Helen Richardson managed to find a foot in the circle and Crista Cullen converted the resulting penalty corner. Germany scored their second near to the end of the half, when Eileen Hoffman found herself unmarked in the GB circle. GB had a chance of going into the second half on equal terms when 17 year-old Charlotte Craddock was tripped in the 25 yard area and a penalty corner was awarded, but the corner was well saved by Kristina Reynolds in the German goal.
Great Britain came out for the second half looking a shadow of the team that had started the match and paid the penalty when Hoffman scored her second, this time from a penalty corner. A second German goal came minutes later when Rinne scored again. The fifth and final German goal was the cruellest piece of bad luck when a shot at goal deflected off the far post to find the stick of skipper, Marion Rodewald (pictured). GB had a few last gasp hopes of snatching a consolation goal, with Sarah Thomas hitting the ball over the crossbar, and two penalty corners in overtime. But GB were not able to improve on their one goal, leaving the final score at 5-1 to Germany.
After every team in Pool B has played one match, Germany top the table, with GB bringing up the rear.
There were some surprising results in the other matches today. Korea were 4-1 up against Australia with 23 minutes left to play, but the Australians managed to recover to take the match 5-4. The USA staged a comeback against Argentina after Carla Renecchi had given the South Americans a two goal start. Goals from Keli Smith and Angela Loy gave the USA a useful 2-2 draw.
Full results and tables can be found on our web site at www.talkhockeyradio.co.uk.
