Unknown's avatar

About thetopofthed

Columnist for The Hockey Paper and the man behind The Top of the D. Writer, podcaster, goalkeeper and BBC Sport man. Used to work for Great Britain Hockey and have covered the sport at every major tournament.

London Prepares, Hockey Test Event: Great Britain 2-0 Argentina.

Great Britain maintained their 100% record and struck a psychological blow to their opponents ahead of the rematch in tomorrow’s final. In a repeat of the Champions Trophy Final in Argentina earlier this year the home side exacted a degree of revenge over their rivals.

The game started with Britain on the front foot, Alex Danson linked up well with Natalie Seymour and Laura Bartlett, going close to getting on the end of the latter’s cross in the fifth minute. Continue reading

London Prepares, Hockey Test Event: Great Britain 4-2 India.

An expectant and vociferous home crowd was treated to a splendid first half performance from the Great Britain men as they kept alive their hopes of qualifying for Sunday’s final with a 4-2 win over India.

The hosts, like their female counterparts got off to a dream start, after four minutes, Ashley Jackson’s quick restart found Rob Moore, the Surbiton man cut inside his marker and sent a searing reverse-stick shot into the top corner, giving Sreejesh Parattu Raveendran in the India goal no chance of making a save. Continue reading

London Prepares, Hockey Test Event: Germany 3-2 Australia.

The two best teams in Men’s World Hockey went head to head here at the Riverbank Arena in London. Although both sides were obviously keen not to show their hand before the Olympic tournament, there was still plenty of quality on display for those who had braved the conditions to come and watch this match.

Nathan Burgers was called into action in the Kookaburras goal early on, making a good save from a Christopher Zeller penalty corner. Continue reading

London Prepares, Hockey Test Event: Argentina 0-0 Korea.

A strong goalkeeping performance from Korea’s Young Hui Moon ensured both sides came out of this game with a point here in London.

It was a game of cat and mouse in front of an enthusiastic crowd, as both sides tried their level best to settle into their rhythm and exert their patterns on the match.

Argentina made a lot of the early running, launching a series of threatening attacks that were well dealt with by the Koreans’ outstanding one-on-one defensive work. Continue reading

The Top of the D Down Under: Rachael Lynch.

Regular readers of these pages will know that The Top of the D loves a good goalkeeper. Well, there are few better than Rachael Lynch. A Commonwealth Games gold medallist and Australian international, the 25-year-old Victorian has impressed all over the world since making her international debut at the 2006 Champions Trophy. The Top of the D fired some questions at her:

The Top of the D: What made you decide to start playing in goal?

Rachael Lynch: When I was 12 I tried out for the state team as both a goalkeeper and an outfield player. Continue reading