Monday, September 11, 2000
Hockey News Online

Britain confident after final warm-up

Victory on Tuesday over South Korea has put the Great Britain team in good heart before their opening match on Saturday against Holland, the Olympic and world champions. In their final warm-up game before the start of the Olympic tournament, Britain won 2-1 after going behind because of a defensive error. Goals by Calum Giles and Mark Pearn secured the victory.

Jon Wyatt, the Britain captain, is positive about his side’s chances against a Holland side that they beat 3-0 in Hamburg in August. "If all matches at all tournaments went according to ranking, there wouldn’t be any point in playing them," he said.

"We certainly feel we have hit a bit of form in the last month or so and got a bit of confidence together. The Dutch will certainly be favourites but the pressure is all on them. They have been tipped for gold again, there are big expectations here and at home, and it is up to us to upset the applecart.

"We like to go in as underdogs and the British bull-dog spirit is definitely there. It is just a case of letting it all out come Saturday now. They are the Olympic champions and they are an arrogant, confident team. We have got to try things and take the odd risk - that is our best chance of upsetting them."

Britain’s group also includes Germany, Pakistan, Canada and Malaysia, and while qualification for the semi-finals will be a tall order, Barry Dancer, the coach, believes that the right time to play Holland is first. "They are obviously the favourites but we have been saying for a while that it is a good time to play them," he said.

"For us, it is a matter of giving them adequate respect without giving them too much, and I think we are in good order to play the way we want to play against the world champions."

Robert Hands
The Times