GB women dig deep to deny Dutch in Argentina

Published on Monday 30 January 2012 01:43

Great Britain’s women have made an impressive start to their FIH Champions Trophy campaign in Argentina, following up their comfortable 3-0 victory over Japan with a superb fightback to earn a 2-2 draw with the Netherlands.

The Dutch, ranked No1 in the world, looked on course for victory in Rosario last night when they led 2-0 at the interval but Leicester’s Crista Cullen led the British revival with a double. Her first came from a penalty corner, and then after she missed from the spot Cullen eventually equalised when her set-piece shot went in off the bar. All the Scots in the squad played – Reading pair Emily Maguire and Laura Bartlett as well as goalkeeper Abi Walker, who came in to replace Beth Storry from the Japan game.

That victory on Saturday also saw Cullen play a prominent role as she opened the GB account with a powerful drag-flick from the first penalty corner of the game in 21 minutes. Danny Kerry’s charges continued to dominate proceedings and, just on the interval, Ashleigh Ball and Cullen created the opening for Reading’s Helen Richardson to fire the second.

The Japanese improved in the second half but failed to make any impression on the scoreboard, and the result was sealed with five minutes left when Leicester’s Chloe Rogers set up Reading’s Alex Danson for GB’s third.

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