World Cup Silver for England O80 and Gold for England O80 B

It was a hot week in Breda and although the two England teams had at first been unhappy  that four of their games had been scheduled first thing in the morning - 8.30 on one occasion - it was a relief not to play in the middle of the day with temperatures well into the 30ºs.

England A began their campaign against Netherlands whom they had beaten at Ludwigsburg last year to become European Champions. However this time the Dutch were well prepared and had been getting their squad together regularly in the weeks ahead of the tournament in a determined effort to become the first O80 World Champions on their home patch. An early goal in open play got them off to a good start and England were immediately on the back foot. However the forward line led by Stephen Stowell looked dangerous on the break and might well have equalised before half time. However it was the Dutch that added to their tally with a goal from a well-worked short corner routine. In the second half there were again chances to get back into the game and Stowell had the ball in the goal but the umpire had failed to play advantage and blown the whistle - for which he apologised! To rub in the fact that this was not to be England’s day, midfielder John Maylam had to leave the pitch with a muscle injury which put him out for the rest of the tournament and then the Dutch scored a third goal before the final whistle when a well struck short corner went inside an unattended near post!  Next up was Australia who had beaten Germany 4-0 on the first day. This time it was England who got off to a good start with a perfect short corner strike from Brian Perryman deflected into the goal at the near post by injector Stowell. This was followed shortly after by an another crisp strike by Perryman this time from the top of the D and it was 2-0 at the end of the first quarter. The England defence managed to contain the Australians who did their best to get back into the game but were thwarted by good work in the England goal by John Ingram-Marriott. After an uneventful two periods, Stowell eventually added a third goal from open play in the final minutes to make it 3-0 to England but it was 7-0 to Netherlands in their game against Germany so the gold medal seemed to be theirs. It was important that England also beat the Germany convincingly on the last day to secure Silver. On one of the hottest days of the week England opened slowly against the Germans but eventually took the lead towards the end of the first quarter when Stowell found Adrian Stephenson who slotted home from short range. A flood of goals steadily accumulated through the remaining three quarters of the game with the Germans flagging as temperatures rose into the 30ºs before 10 o’clock. Stowell wound up with five goals to his name, Stephenson added his second and there also goals for Perryman and Jim Mason to make it 9-0 at the final whistle. Silver medals were secured but the Netherlands had had won the Gold with a final 3-0 win against Australia.

Squad: John Ingram-Marriott, Brian Murrill, Bill Greenwood, Brian Nichols, Andy Holden, Mike Green, John Maylam, Vinny Smith, Brian Perryman (capt), Ken Wilcock, Tony Jones, Jim Mason, John Peirce, Stephen Stowell, Hugh Mason, Adrian Stephenson Coach David Gill

England B may have slipped up on the final morning with a 3-1 loss to Netherlands B but good wins against Alliance (2-0) and Celts (1-0), together with other results in their group meant that they finished on top and were Gold medal winners in the first O80 IMC event - a great team success. All credit to John Young in goal and the defensive line-up for clean sheets in the first two games which helped the cause and at the other end there were goals from Kavanagh (2) Hughes and Wookey.  

Squad: John Young, Joe Babbra, Martin Kavanagh, Garry Adams, Chris Parker, Nigel Spencer-Knott (capt), Peter Danson, Manu Kokri, Ted Frost, John Hughes, Peter Denley, Geoff Wookey, Brian Woolcott