WATER POLO: BELARUS DUMP BRITAIN OUT OF MEDALS MIX
BELARUS 10 GREAT BRITAIN 5
Belarus ended Great Britain's dreams of a medal in the LEN
European Nations Trophy at the Manchester Aquatics Centre
with a 10-5 quarter-final victory.
The host nation qualified for the top six after beating Ukraine
10-9 in their final group game on Thursday, but they could
not raise the level once more and fell to a third loss of
the competition.
Eelco Uri's team will now play Ukraine again on Sunday in
a bid to win fifth place in the competition. They have already
secured qualification for the European Championships qualification
tournament, where they will vie to compete against Europe's
best. Belarus will play tournament favourites Montenegro in
Saturday's semi-final.
The teams cancelled each other out for the opening three-and-a-half
minutes, with Belarus pressing Britain high, and Uri's team
operating a drop defence to counter the threat of the Belarus
centre forward.
Rotherham's Adam Scholefield broke the deadlock, scoring
from five metres into the bottom right of the Belarus goal.
Lancaster's Tom Curwen doubled the advantage. His powerful
shot from the left wing hit the left-hand upright before ricocheting
into Mikhail Yazerski's net off the Belarus goalkeeper's head.
But Belarus scored four goals without reply. Captain Dzmitry
Vankevich got the first with an outside shot and Siarhei Fralou
levelled after Curwen had been excluded. Dzmitry Kulik then
put Belarus ahead for the first time after Manchester's Sean
Ryder was sent out.
Armenaic Elizbaran gave Belarus a two-goal cushion at the
end of the first quarter, breaking 20 metres to beat goalkeeper
Ed Scott in a one-on-one.
Curwen continued to provide Britain's most likely threat
and peppered Yazerski's goal with shots, hitting the woodwork
twice before Aleksey Kuzmenko conceded a penalty. Curwen converted
his seventh five-metre penalty throw of the competition to
claim his second goal of the game and reduce the deficit to
one.
Cheltenham's Alex Parsonage was denied by Yazerski after
Scholefield had won the exclusion of Vankevich, and when Scholefield
was sent out at the other end, Kuzmenko's skip shot beat Scott
for Belarus to re-establish a two-goal lead.
Parsonage was sent out and Kulik netted for a second time,
and he then set up Ivan Kulakov to score Belarus' seventh,
leaving Britain to overcome a four-goal deficit in the second
half.
Vladimir Basic was excluded for a foul on Scholefield early
in the third, but Britain could not get a shot away in the
extra-man attack. The first goal of the second half came after
3:42 of the third period, when Basic's shot from six metres
arrowed into the top-right corner.
Basic was excluded and Uri called a time-out. A well-worked
move, with passes exchanged between Scott Carpenter and Parsonage,
allowed Mark Banwell to score Britain's fourth from the right-hand
post position.
Kuzmenko grabbed a quick reply for Belarus, but Britain had
the chance to move within four almost immediately. Banwell
won a penalty at the expense of Fralou but this time Curwen
shot straight at Yazerski.
Fralou was excluded inside the last 15 seconds of the third,
but, despite trying frantically, Britain could not score from
the extra-man attack.
Fralou earned his third personal foul for a challenge on
Rob Parker, but Britain's extra-man failed again. Scott saved
from Alexcei Zalugnyi, but then Carpenter fouled the Belarus
centre forward to concede a penalty, and Elizbaran scored
from five metres.
Britain earned three man-ups, but failed to convert. They
did score again through a Curwen penalty 1:59 before the end
but it was too late.
Result: 10-5 (4-2; 3-1; 2-1; 1-1)
Belarus: 1. Mikhail Yazerski, 2 Ivan Kulakov (1 goal), 3
Aliaksandr Andrayuk, 4 Dzmitry Kulik (2), 5 Alexcei Zalugnyi,
6 Armenaic Elizbaran (2), 7 Aliaksandr Navumenka, 8 Dzmitry
Vankevich (Capt, 1), 9 Siarhei Fralou (1), 10 Aleksey Kuzmenko
(2), 11 Uladzimir Martyniuk, 12 Vladimir Basic (1), 13 Kanstantsin
Kavaleuski
Great Britain: 1 Ed Scott, 2 Sean Ryder, 3 Mark Banwell (1
goal), 4 Scott Carpenter, 5 Craig Figes (Capt), 6 Andrew Squires,
7 Alex Parsonage, 8 Tom Curwen (3), 9 Rob Parker, 10 Adam
Scholefield (1), 11 Chris Gilbertson, 12 Matthew Thresher,
13 Matthew Birch
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