England's women got off to a good start in their campaign to qualify for the World Cup in September. Playing their first match in the qualifying tournament in Rome today, England faced the Ukraine. However, there was an element of farce to the match when nine of the Ukrainian team's sticks were ruled unlawful for having a bow which did not meet the recent change in FIH regs. Six players missed the warm up whilst they went to trade stands to purchase new sticks. Once the match was underway England went into the lead halfway through the second half with a field goal by Jo Ellis, followed by a Mel Clewlow penalty corner strike just before the break. England extended their lead to three with a second half goal by Bowdon's Sally Walton. Final score 3-0 to England. In other matches, China defeated Scotland 2-0, whilst Ireland drew 1-1 in their match against the USA.
TalkHockeyRadio has a reporter at the World Cup qualifiers and we hope to bring you reports from Rome on our podcast at www.TalkHockeyRadio.co.uk in our May edition.
