S2H Team

Spain grabbed a shootout bonus point after agonizing over a last-gasp equalizer conceded to Great Britain in a men’s FIH Pro League match at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre in London on Saturday.

The Spanish were 2-1 ahead but a goal by Rupert Shipperley with only 24 seconds left on the clock took the match to the tiebreaker. The goal capped a comeback by GB were 0-2 down with the game less than 10 minutes old.

Spain won the shootout 3-1 with the veteran Quico Cortes in goal extending his fine performance in open play to the one-on-one contest. Spain with nine points from 11 matches at a percentage success of 27.27 remain at the bottom of the nine-nation league. Britain stay at six with 12 from 11 at 36.36.

Belgium are table leaders with 32 points from 13 matches at 82.05%, Germany second with 19 from 10 at 63.33 and India third with 15 from eight at 62.5.

Just three minutes had ticked by when Spain shot ahead – Alvaro Iglesias scoring from a quickly taken free hit. The strike came against the run of play in the early minutes after Cortes produced a great save to keep his goal intact.

Nine minutes had elapsed when Jose Basterra scored a gem. Collecting Pau Quemada’s pass, he beat a defender with a deft touch and scored with a inch-perfect hit that beat Ollie Payne in goal.

GB reduced the margin with a touch of fortune when Liam Ansell exploited hesitancy in Spain’s defence line at a penalty corner in the 24th minute.

There were no goals in the third quarter during which Cortes’ brilliance deprived GB of an almost certain goal following a move by Zach Wallace that saw five GB attackers take on three defenders. The Spanish keeper’s instinctive block denied James Gall and retained his side’s slender lead.

GB, with two successive wins over Germany 10 days ago, were left chasing the game and the Spanish could well have envisaged a commendable three points when Shipperley got the better of a tired Sanchez to deflect Henry Weir’s long hit past Cortez with the final hooter beckoning.

Spain’s Joan Tarres, player of the match, reflected on the encounter: “We trained hard leading up to this match. That was a good win for us in the shoot-out. Now we must get ready for tomorrow’s match. We were very disappointed to concede the final minute because we had worked so hard for the game.”

Great Britain captain, Adam Dixon, said: “It was good to hang on and go to shootout. We are very disappointed that we didn’t convert the goals at the shoot-out. We have matured as a group. The Spanish team play attacking hockey and we worked hard to try and contain them. We need more speed tomorrow, that is the message we took from Danny in the half-time talk.”

The teams square up to each other again tomorrow at 1630pm IST.

The GB women’s team beat USA 5-1 in the first of their double header in a match played later in the day. The hosts, however, stay at sixth spot with 17 points from 11 matches at 51.52%. The US women are at the bottom having lost all nine matches. The teams take the pitch again on Sunday at 1900 IST.