Robertson leads rout of Russia

Hockey

BILL COLWILL

reports from Bisham Abbey

Great Britain 4 Russia 0

Britain's women persisted with their new aggressive style of hockey in the second Test yesterday, although towards the end of the game they were looking tired and their play became over-complicated.

In a slow start Britain played zonal hockey, which allowed the Russians to settle into their game, and it was not until the 17th minute that they opened the scoring from their second penalty corner, Karen Brown's lob bouncing off the crossbar to be met by Pauline Robertson.

A fortuitous penalty corner two minutes later produced the second goal. Robertson's initial shot was blocked by the Russian goalkeeper but Britain's captain, Jill Atkins, followed up with a cracking shot. The 2-0 interval score in no way reflected Britain's dominance.

An unnecessarily crude tackle by Lucy Cope on the Russian captain, Tatyana Vasykova, five minutes into the second half reduced Britain to 10 players.

The Leicester defender served out a five-minute temporary suspension, which gave the visitors the opportunity to force Britain back onto the defensive, but they were unable to beat goalkeeper Jo Thompson.

With Cope back on duty, Robertson finished off a good move between Sixsmith and Mandy Nicholls in the 50th minute for Britain's third goal. Four minutes later Sixsmith moved to the near post to turn in Sue Fraser's penalty corner strike and complete the scoring.

The home coach, Sue Slocombe, was delighted with Britain's attacking play, which has produced nine goals in two games, and was pleased to see that they were at last scoring from penalty corners - albeit only on the follow-up.

GREAT BRITAIN: J Thompson (Ipswich); S Fraser (Grove), J Atkins (Bradford Swithenbank, capt), K Brown (Slough), L Cope (Leicester); M Davies (Sutton Coldfield), P Robertson (Grove), T Miller (Clifton); J Sixsmith (Sutton Coldfield), S MacDonald (Glasgow Western), A Bennett (Slough). Substitutes used: M Nicholls (Slough), C Cook (Hightown), D Renilson (Edinburgh Ladies).

RUSSIA: G Musina; I Sviridova; N Kravchenko, M Chegurdaeva, E Cheroshilova; E Polovkova, O Nikiforova, E Kalinichenko, T Vasykova (capt); O Leksini, I Peskunoa. Substitute used: S Prokofieva.

Umpires: D Hemming and D Powell (England).