BRITAIN OFF TO FLYING START IN MANCHESTER
Great Britain triumphed with a convincing 20-9 victory over
Israel in their opening match of the LEN European Nations
Trophy at the Manchester Aquatics Centre.
Captain Craig Figes led the way with four goals, but his
goalscoring exploits were eclipsed by Lancaster’s Tom
Curwen, who claimed seven.
Britain’s coach Eelco Uri will be pleased with his
side’s professional performance in front of a vociferous
home support. However, he will be well aware that sterner
tests await his young side.
Great Britain opened the scoring through Figes, who shot
from six metres after a cross-cage pass from Rotherham centre
forward Adam Scholefield. But Israel were swiftly level when
Matthew Thresher was excluded twice, firstly for a foul and
secondly for impeding play on his way to the exclusion box.
Cheltenham duo Alex Parsonage and Mark Banwell took Britain’s
lead to 4-1 midway through the period before Ofir Golombek
pulled a goal back for Israel. Curwen claimed his first of
the match from a man-up but Gil Lunliner reduced the deficit
once more.
Lancaster’s Curwen claimed his second, but then Bristol
Central’s Thresher - who was celebrating his 27th birthday
- was excluded for a third time to end his participation in
the contest.
Lancaster pair Andrew Squires and Curwen (twice) scored as
Britain accelerated to a six-goal lead at the start of the
second period before Or Keren pulled back one. Parsonage then
added his second from a fast break but Israel’s Navot
Luria scored as the half ended 10-5.
Scott Carpenter and Scholefield scored in succession as Britain
extended their advantage to seven goals. And when Parsonage
was excluded Israel elected to take a time out and Ayal Keren
scored from the resulting man-up. Carpenter immediately added
his second with a bounce shot. Ayal Keren scored his second
and third in quick succession.
Uri made use of his first time-out 22 seconds into the fourth
period when Or Keren was excluded and Curwen scored his fifth
goal of the game. Less than 30 seconds later Banwell scored
his second, turning at centre forward before executing a delicate
lob over the hapless Israel goalkeeper Itamar Inbar.
Figes completed his hat-trick with an extra-man goal when
Ayal Keren was sent out. The CN Metropole star added his fourth
shortly afterwards before Luria pulled one back.
Curwen then added three goals to take his personal tally
to seven, with Sedgefield’s Chris Gilbertson also scoring,
claiming his first of the game from a man-up.
Result: 20-9 (6-3; 4-2; 3-3; 7-1)
Great Britain: 1 Ed Scott, 2 Sean Ryder,
3 Mark Banwell (2 goals), 4 Scott Carpenter (2), 5 Craig Figes
(Capt, 4), 6 Andrew Squires (1), 7 Alex Parsonage (2), 8 Tom
Curwen (7), 9 Rob Parker, 10 Adam Scholefield (1), 11 Chris
Gilbertson (1), 12 Matthew Thresher, 13 Matthew Birch
Israel: 1 Itamar Inbar, 2 Shy Hemed, 3 Ofir
Golombek (1 goal), 4 Navot Luria (2), 5 Maoz Gaver, 6 Or Keren
(1), 7 Gil Lunliner (1), 8 Amit Seker (Capt, 1), 9 Ayal Keren
(3), 10 Ori Raz, 11 Dolev Koifman, 12 Itamar Schwartz, 13
Alex Malkis
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