Great Britain’s first games of the home leg of the FIH Pro League are now in the books. Wins over Ireland and India made it a perfect weekend for the men’s side.
Rather than give you a run of the mill match report, which let’s face it, you won’t read and you can find elsewhere, I thought instead I’d jot down a few thoughts and a few things that caught my eye.
The number one slot still up for grabs?
Great Britain’s men are undoubtedly blessed with some outstanding goalkeeping talent. Ollie Payne was of course nominated for the FIH Goalkeeper of the Year award last time out, however to many people’s surprise, Payne didn’t feature this weekend. Paul Revington instead gave James Mazarelo and Toby Reynolds-Cotterill the chance to show what they can do. I wouldn’t necessarily say that means Payne is not the incumbent for the Olympics as things stand, more Revington wanted to see where the others are in their development. I thought Reynolds-Cotterill did well. He’ll be disappointed with one of the goals he conceded, but overall, a good outing for him.
I’m a big fan of Mazarelo and I thought he acquitted himself well. The fact he got the full game against India whilst Reynolds-Cotterill watched from the bench might suggest he is ahead of the Wales stopper in the pecking order. His ability in shootouts may yet see him secure the number one berth, we’ll have to see.
I’ll be watching this situation develop with interest.
Gareth Furlong makes his debut.
The Wales international, who has 148 home nations caps to his name, picked up his first Great Britain cap alongside fellow debutants Conor Williamson and Henry Croft. Like Croft, Furlong capped a dream debut by finding the net against Ireland.
Furlong is a very capable player in open play, but it is his ability from penalty corners that is especially interesting. Whilst Sam Ward and Nick Bandurak have done a good job from penalty corners, Paul Revington must be aware of the need to have a set piece threat they can bank on – which is one of the reasons I think Furlong has been brought in. That he found the net is a good sign, we’ll have to see if he’s a surprise call up for the Olympics.
Jacob Draper is a superb player.
Hardly a hot take given he’s been playing in the Hoofdklaase all season and won the EHL with Pinoke, but I really like Jacob Draper. He’s not a headline grabber but he’s absolutely solid defensively. He never seems to give the ball away and he just makes GB tick. He goes about his business in an understated way, but he is a vital cog in the GB machine. Tidy.
Sam Ward backs up his words.
After the Olympic qualifiers I gave Sam Ward some grief about nicking goals from his team mates. To be fair to him, not only did he take it well, his response was perfect: “You should always dangle a stick and widen the goal. What were we taught growing up? They’ll be annoyed when I start leaving them and they go past the post.”
On Saturday, on his 200th international appearance Ward helped himself to two goals – one a poacher’s effort where he gambled on the far post and touched home James Gall’s shot from close range. Practice what you preach – poachers gonna poach.
Liam Sanford is a menace.
Liam Sanford’s defensive work is unquestionably outstanding. However the part of his game which i really like is his willingness to move forwards with the ball and step into attack. I remember his goal at the end of season League Finals where Alan Forsyth broke forwards for Old Georgians and the furthest player forwards, the man sliding in to touch home was Sanford. There was an element of “what’s he doing there?!” but also an element of “wow. Fair play.”
He’s happy doing that sort of thing for Great Britain too. Often teams will have their defensive patterns and shape sorted, but they won’t have counted on Sanford’s maruading runs from the back. Used properly it’s a different option for Paul Revington to have up his sleeve and could be a danger to a lot of teams in the Olympics.
Nick Bandurak – Scores lots of goals.
Bandurak being called up to the international squad late on in his career is a story that is well documented and not one I’ll go into right now. However, it is fair to say that he is making the most of the time he has in the international arena. Two lovely goals against India took him to 43 international goals in 58 appearances. Those numbers stack up against most people. It’s great seeing GB have so many attacking options and so many players hungry for goals.
Strength in depth.
It’s really interesting seeing Paul Revington ring the changes and rotate his squad. Whilst I’d imagine he and his staff have the majority of their Paris squad nailed down, it’s refreshing to see other players given the chance to impress and there may yet be someone who comes seemingly from nowhere to book a place on the plane (or should that be Eurostar?) to the Games. We’ll have to see. But what I will say, is it’s great to see how well GB played even with a number of changes. Exciting times.
There you go. Two excellent results, two very good performances and I’m looking forward to what the upcoming games have in store.
The Top of the D 
@Ross another great article!
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