WATER POLO: BRITAIN AIM FOR MEDALS AFTER UKRAINE VICTORY
UKRAINE 9 GREAT BRITAIN 10
Head Coach Eelco Uri is thrilled his team are back on form
after last night's disappointment but warns they must now
focus on the next phase of competition.
"I'm very happy for the boys, they deserve the win tonight,"
he said. "Yesterday they worked so hard and to lose just
two seconds from the end was tough. It was a big blow but
they put it behind them tonight for the win.
"We came away with a couple of lucky ones - we finished
on the right side of the line this time. They worked hard
and I'm really pleased. To be in the top six is just amazing.
"The level here is so close and there's a big grey area
from places five to 10. Because we've done well tonight doesn't
mean we're there yet - there's a lot of work still to do.
Our focus now is preparing for the next game and doing the
best we can."
Great Britain qualified for the quarter final of the LEN
European Nations Trophy with a tense 10-9 victory over Ukraine.
Britain finished second in Group B behind France despite
suffering two defeats - 12-6 to France on Monday and 9-8 to
Poland on Wednesday - and have the chance to claim a medal
in the competition.
Ukraine fought back from a three-goal deficit with 49 seconds
remaining in the first half and took the lead for the first
time with five minutes 32 seconds left of the match. Britain
equalised before Ukraine went ahead once more. But Britain
went ahead for a final time when Lancaster's Tom Curwen scored
his third of the game - his 22nd of the tournament.
Manchester goalkeeper Ed Scott made a number of crucial interventions,
including denying Vladyslav Soslovskiy twice in the dying
moments. Soslovskiy scored five in the game.
Adam Scholefield won the exclusion of Ukraine captain Kostyantyn
Shevchenko, and Figes scored from the resulting man-up. Tymur
Shylin replied with an outside shot before Scholefield set
up Bristol Central's Matthew Thresher, who showed strength
to score under pressure from the right wing.
However, just 19 seconds later Ukraine were level once more,
Soslovskiy equalising. Lancaster's Andrew Squires scored with
pinpoint accuracy from the right wing for Britain to go into
the lead. But the period finished level when Shylin grabbed
his second of the game.
Scott Carpenter won a penalty for Britain after he was fouled
by Shevchenko and Curwen converted for his sixth successful
five-metre penalty of the competition - a 100 percent record.
The Lancaster star then turned provider, firstly setting up
for Cheltenham centre forward Mark Banwell and then setting
up Rotherham's Scholefield with 49 seconds remaining in the
half.
Manchester goalkeeper Ed Scott saved well to deny Denys Kolesnikov,
but Shylin completed his hat-trick from the resulting corner,
drilling the ball low under Scott's outstretched arm with
14.8 seconds left of the half.
Roman Olefirenko was excluded for fouling Scholefield, but
Squires missed when found by Thresher with the goal at his
mercy. Soslovskiy scored a thunderous shot from seven metres
to pull Ukraine within one goal, but Carpenter grabbed his
first to restore a two-goal lead.
Thresher was excluded and Soslovskiy scored his third with
45.8 seconds left of the third period.
Shevchenko threaded the ball into Scott's top corner when
allowed to shoot by Carpenter as Ukraine levelled less than
90 seconds into the final quarter. And Soslovskiy grabbed
his fourth from the left wing to put Ukraine ahead for the
first time in the match.
Alex Parsonage grabbed his first on the fast break to pull
the scores level once more. But Soslovskiy found the back
of the net for the fifth time for Ukraine to edge ahead.
Shylin was excluded for a foul on Carpenter and Eelco Uri
called a time out with 4:17.3 remaining. Britain moved the
ball for Curwen to shoot, but he hit the bar. The ball fell
to Scholefield who prodded home to level again.
Scholefield was then excluded with 3:11 on the clock and
Ukraine opted to use their second time out. Soslovskiy hit
the angle of post and bar before Britain stole the ball.
Curwen scored when Britain broke and two Ukraine players
chose not to retreat to put his side ahead with 1:51 remaining.
Scott denied Yevgen Obedinskyy and Soslovskiy, before Soslovskiy
hit the bar when through one-on-one. He was denied again by
Scott on the buzzer for Britain to finish second in the group
behind France.
Head Coach Eelco Uri is thrilled his team are back on form
after last night's disappointment but warns they must now
focus on the next phase of competition.
"I'm very happy for the boys, they deserve the win tonight,"
he said. "Yesterday they worked so hard and to lose just
two seconds from the end was tough. It was a big blow but
they put it behind them tonight for the win.
"We came away with a couple of lucky ones - we finished
on the right side of the line this time. They worked hard
and I'm really pleased. To be in the top six is just amazing.
"The level here is so close and there's a big grey area
from places five to 10. Because we've done well tonight doesn't
mean we're there yet - there's a lot of work still to do.
Our focus now is preparing for the next game and doing the
best we can."
Result: 9-10 (3-3; 1-3; 2-1; 9-10)
Ukraine: 1 Denys Volonchuk, 2 Kostyantyn
Shevchenko (Capt, 1 goal), 3 Tymur Shylin (3), 4 Vadym Kozlov,
5 Volodymyr Voytenko, 6 Roman Olefirenko, 7 Denys Kolesnikov,
8 Vladyslav Soslovskiy (5), 9 Sergiy Pantyukov, 10 Yevgen
Obedinskyy, 11 Igor Piperko, 12 Serhiy Grishyn, 13 Petro Radivilov
Great Britain: 1 Ed Scott, 2 Sean Ryder,
3 Mark Banwell (1 goal), 4 Scott Carpenter (1), 5 Craig Figes
(Capt, 1), 6 Andrew Squires (1), 7 Alex Parsonage, 8 Tom Curwen
(3), 9 Rob Parker, 10 Adam Scholefield (2), 11 Chris Gilbertson,
12 Matthew Thresher (1), 13 Matthew Birch
|
