Shaw inspires the humiliation of Italy

Hockey

BILL COLWILL

Italy 0 Great Britain 6

Great Britain settled after a slow start to beat Italy convincingly in the first of two Test matches at the Amsicora Stadium in Cagliari, Sardinia, yesterday.

Forcing the Italians into defence, Britain never looked back after a 16th-minute penalty corner goal from Calum Giles. Seven minutes later Nick Thompson and Jason Laslett combined well to set up the second for Rob Thompson before the interval.

In a clinical, well-drilled second-half performance, John Shaw scored the first of his two cracking goals after 50 minutes with the British captain, Laslett, marking his 150th international appearance with a goal three minutes later.

Jon Wyatt claimed his first international goal in a melee at a penalty corner a few minutes later, with Shaw completing the scoring from the edge of the circle with a lofted shot seven minutes from time.

A delighted British coach, David Whitaker, said after the game: "We were slow to start but we showed patience, got a good return from within the 25-yard area."

ITALY: H Ragni; R Giulviani (capt); H Ranzoni, J Dallari, A Apastori; S Bertini, G-P Lanzano, A Raggio; F Dubois, S Hedda, G-L Cirilli. Substitutes used: G Bacchi, H Lanzano, L Dello- Nonaghe, A Leone

GREAT BRITAIN: D Luckes (East Grinstead); J Wyatt (Reading), J Halls (Old Loughtonians); G Fordham (Hounslow), Kalbir Takher (Cannock), S Hazlitt (Hounslow); C Mayer (Cannock), R Garcia (Polo Barcelona), R Thompson (Hounslow), J Laslett (Teddington, capt), N Thompson (Old Loughtonians). Substitutes used: C Giles (Havant), J Shaw (Southgate), Soma Singh (Southgate), D Hall (Guildford).

Umpires: R Arangino (Italy) and C Madden (Scotland).