Giles treble overwhelms Italians

Hockey

Calum Giles, with two early penalty corner strikes, sent Great Britain on their way to a comfortable 7-1 victory over Italy yesterday at Bisham Abbey in their last game prior to Sunday's departure for Atlanta, writes Bill Colwill.

With Chris Mayer and Nick Thompson both bungling good chances at early goalscoring opportunities, there was considerable relief on the face of Great Britain's coach, Jon Copp, when Giles opened his account in the 13th minute from his second penalty corner, repaying the hours of recent practice with the speed gun.

Giles claimed his second nine minutes later with a powerful strike which went in off the upright. Two minutes later a stinging shot from the British captain, Jason Laslett, put his side further ahead and in complete control. On the stroke of the interval, Giles completed his hat-trick.

Wholesale British changes gave the Italians the chance to score their consolation goal four minutes into the second half, but Britain were quickly back on form to seal victory with two goals by Russell Garcia (one from a penalty corner) plus one by Danny Hall.