BRITAIN FINISH SIXTH AT EURO POLO MEET
Great Britain finished sixth in the LEN European Nations
Trophy after a 10-8 loss to Ukraine at the Manchester Aquatics
Centre.
Montenegro were triumphant in their debut at the competition,
defeating France 19-9 in the Final on Day Eight of the competition,
while Belarus, conquerors of Britain, won Bronze.
Britain and Manchester goalkeeper Ed Scott was named Most
Valuable Goalkeeper ahead of some of the world's best stoppers,
while Tom Curwen, of Lancaster, was second in the scoring
charts to France captain Frederic Audon, the competition's
Most Valuable Player. Curwen scored 25 times in eight games,
while Audon netted 41 times in seven matches.
Eelco Uri's British side slumped to their fourth defeat of
the LEN European Nations Trophy in his final match in charge
- the Dutchman is leaving his role after nine months as coach
- but surpassed expectations on their return to the European
stage after a long absence.
Uri's side have secured a place in the LEN European Championship
qualification tournament in January 2008 for their top-six
finish at this event. They beat Ukraine 10-9 in their Group
B match on Thursday to earn a place in the quarter-finals
where they were defeated 10-5 by Belarus, who won the bronze
medal with an 8-7 triumph over Macedonia.
"I think the boys played a really good game and they
showed what might be possible in future," said Uri. "If
the right work is done over the next couple of years we'll
be able to beat teams like Ukraine and Poland at the next
European B Championships."
Britain fielded a young side - the majority in their early
20s - and are in the early stages of their preparations for
London 2012. Water polo players do not mature until their
late 20s and this group of players will be at their peak in
five years' time.
Britain struggled in the first half against Ukraine and were
three goals down at half-time. They recovered to win the final
period 5-2 but could not do enough to equalise and force extra
time.
Bristol Central's Matthew Thresher cancelled out Serhiy Grishyn's
opening goal before Vladyslav Soslovskiy put Ukraine ahead.
Andrew Squires hit back with two minutes to go in the quarter
when the Lancaster man drilled the ball past Petro Radivilov.
Cheltenham's Mark Banwell levelled the scores with a typical
centre forward's goal, beating Denys Kolesnikov before shooting
high into the net and Lancaster's Scott Carpenter hit the
post moments later as Britain looked to level.
Scott was forced to save from Roman Olefirenko and Tymur
Shylin at the other end but then Kolesnikov beat the Manchester
goalkeeper with a skip shot from five metres. Soslovskiy netted
for a second time and he scored an unstoppable shot from six
metres to complete his hat-trick and give Ukraine a three-goal
cushion.
Radivilov denied Parker and Carpenter early in the third
and Shylin grabbed his first of the match when Thresher was
given his second personal foul. Britain almost got one back
immediately when Lancaster's Tom Curwen hit the post following
Kostyantyn Shevchenko's exclusion.
Britain's captain Craig Figes received his second exclusion
and Scott saved from Shylin in the resulting 6-on-5. The Manchester
stopper then saved from Grishyn. Soslovskiy scored his fourth
on the fast break to open up a five-goal lead with 21 seconds
of the third remaining.
Cheltenham's Rob Parker and Squires each scored extra-man
goals to reduce the deficit to three but Kolesnikov scored
his second of the game to restore the four-goal lead.
Curwen scored his first of the game for Britain to pull a
goal back and Figes scored his first to move them to within
two with 3:30 to go. Centre forward Volodymyr Voytenko put
the result beyond doubt with a goal 1:01 from the buzzer.
Sedgefield's Chris Gilbertson scored with 35 seconds left
when Olefirenko was excluded but it was too late to save Britain
from defeat.
Boris Zlokovic and Vladimir Gojkovic each scored four in
the 44th and final match of the competition as Montenegro
lifted the title. France captain Audon claimed three.
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