Great Britain win in France

The Great Britain Women's team secured their first international victory of the new era beating Luxembourg by 36 to 26. The GB team were once again playing in Beauvais, the same arena that the Presidents Cup is being played in but this time they were watched by the President of the IHF who had instigated GB's participation at this event.

Coach Morten Arvidsson had been pleased with the defensive performance against the Police team but felt that the GB team did not exploit this with fast counter attacking. It was different in this match, with the defence again looking strong but this time the team worked hard on the fast breaks and got their rewards with a great first 5 minutes, opening up a 4 – 1 lead. In fact the first goal was scored by Louise Jukes one of the TID players who has been playing handball only a few months having previously played Hockey to England junior (U18) level.

Over the next 15 minutes GB attacked with great energy and Yvette Frings was in fine form, scoring 4 goals in quick succession. At the other end Cerys Walker was having a fantastic game in goal saving 8 out of the 13 shots she faced. GB pulled away to a 13 – 4 lead but then suffered a mini collapse which lasted for 10 minutes. Luxembourg came right back in the game scoring 7 goals to only 2 from GB,

After half time however, GB gradually regained control with the team again working well in defence and setting up counter attacks which 15 year old Chloe Lam- Moores accepted greedily, scoring 6 goals. All the team got in on the scoring act, with Britt Goodwin also contributing 7 goals but Frings continued her goal scoring until she was harshly red carded for a third 2 minutes, having taken an earlier 2 minutes for a team mate by a mistake from the referee. She finished the match as top scorer with 8 goals.

After the match the squad posed for photos with Dr Moustafa, President of the IHF who was impressed with the progress this young side is making under coach Morten Arvidsson.

Squad and scores: Cerys Walker (gk), Sarah Hargreaves (gk), Laura Innes (gk), Yvette Frings ( 8) , Britt Goodwin (7 ) , Chloe Lam-Moores (6), Emma Dahlin (3), Kelsi Fairbrother (3), Holly Lam-Moores (3), Lynn McCafferty (2) , Louise Jukes ( 2), Sophie Keen (1), Lesley Robb (1), Paige Garvey.

Text: Mel Chowns