LOUGHBOROUGH LOOK SET TO PROGRESS

Loughborough Students look set to become the third English club to progress through from the first rounds of the EuroHockey League in Antwerp this afternoon. Playing Swiss side Luzerner, the students got off to a cracking start with an early penalty conversion from Richard Smith. A mistake in the defence allowed the Swiss to equalise, but the English side grabbed the deciding goal in the dying seconds, courtesy of Peter Dobson. Loughborough Students play Kelbourne tomorrow. The Germans, who came away empty handed from last weekend’s first round pool matches, had better luck when Ulenhorster won their match against Polish outfit Grunwald Poznan 5-1. In the other matches played today the host club, Royal Antwerp, drew 3-3 against the Russians from Dinamo Electrostal, and Spanish side Club Egara overcame Pembroke Wanderers from Ireland 3-2.

This evening’s practice match between Great Britain women and the Australian Institute of Sport ended ten minutes short of time due to a floodlight failure. The Australians had taken a twelfth minute lead through Madonna Blyth. Hayley Brown (pictured) replied in open play but Emily Halliday converted a penalty corner just before the half-time whistle. The scored remained at 2-1 at the time of the floodlight failure.

Roger Self has retired from the post of President of Great Britain Hockey on the grounds of ill-health. Bryn Williams will be acting president until a replacement can be appointed.