Strong Defence not Enough for GB Women

AN IMPROVED defensive performance from Great Britain women was not enough to stop them slipping to a 17-22 defeat in their final match of the London Handball Cup on Saturday.

The final match of their Olympic Test Event, GB showed an improved fighting display after the previous day’s defeat to Austria, and will go into next week’s friendly fixture with Iceland looking to build on lessons learned this week.

“We were very disappointed after the Austria game, but we have had a great campaign overall,” said Head Coach Jesper Holmris. “We have shown once again that we have a very strong defence, and against Slovakia the British fighting spirit was back again.

“But we missed too many opportunities and scored just 17 goals which was never going to be enough to win. Our defence was great and our keepers have done well all week, so we will go back to our home at Crystal Palace and work on our attacking, fast breaks and decision making.”

Trailing 9-16 at half time, GB responded with a stronger second half which they won 8-6, but it was not enough to overhaul the deficit.

Holly Lam-Moores top-scored with five goals, with the other shared amongst the team. And goalkeeper Jane Mayes had a great save ratio of 41 per cent, largely thanks to a strong second half.