National Roller Hockey Association

England 0 - 1 Switzerland

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England 7 - 1 Holland

Half-time 4-1

Although we started the game consistently on restricted man to man, for the first 10 minutes the team were static in attack and the players would not move without the ball. I called a time out to speak to the players and only then did the team start to move off the ball giving us the oppretunity to score 2 goals in 5 minutes.
It was an exciting game with England showing superiority, when we had control of the game everyone played.
Now we will play Switzerland for 5th/6th places which is a great achievement.

Russell LLoyd comments after the game:
This is my first opportunity to play at senior level and really enjoyed my first experience. The team played very well and today we showed confidence through out the game. Carlos put me in the position where I was able to have a chance to score and with the help of the team I managed it with 5 seconds to go. I am extremely happy with this. Look forward for the game against Switzerland.

England 0 - 5 Italy

Half-time 0-3
The team are now tired and this is causing a lack of concentration in defence. Our restricted man to man did not happen, in the first 10 minutes Italy scored 3 goals this was due to a lot of space given to them in the front of the goal. After our time out we corrected this issue and the team started to defend better giving us a few counter attacks.
Second half the team were more consistent and everyone played giving me time to rest players for next game.

Michael Ableson comments after the game:
The team was very tired after 2 hard games against Switzerland and Germany. Lack of concentration showed on the first half. After the team talk in the changing room the second half was more positive against a very physical team. We are now looking forward to playing Holland although it will be a hard game we are confident that we can beat them.

England 0 - 0 Germany

Great tactical game with superb man to man restriction well supported by the England goalkeeper.  We had created the best goal opportunities in the game from counter attack moves.
First Half we decided to give initiative to the Germany team and explore the counter attack as they found it hard to beat our defence system.  Second Half we tried to play more in attack with 2 players close to the goal and 2 players from the back, this way we created a lot of problems for Germany.
Although it was goalless, it was an exciting game where England showed a big improvement from previous competitions regarding consistency and confidence playing against higher ranking teams.

Marc Waddingham comments after the game:
It is a good base to start on not conceding any goals. We had great confidence in our defence this allows us to explore more opportunities in attack. A great effort by all and the games clearest opportunities were ours. We are looking forward to playing Italy in the quarter-final and defending the same way.

England 2 - 2 Switzerland

Half-time 0-0

Another excellent performance on the man to man restricted defence and with good counter attacks. Players concentrated well and had control of the game all first half. We deserved be ahead on the first half.
We started the second half like we finished the first half very concentrated and had the Swiss team under control; so when we scored the first goal there was no surprised. Then Switzerland started to pressure us full rink creating some difficulties they dominated the game in the second half due to tiredness; during this period they scored 2 goals.
However we never gave up and after a time out we made a tactical change keeping 2 players in their end with one always in the area, this way we scored our second goal with just 1 minute to go.
Great result considering we played the runners up World and European Championships.

John Jones comments after the game:
Everyone very pleased with the result against 2nd best in the world. The moral in the team gets stronger everyday and we are hoping to finish the championship very strong and looking forward our game tonight versus Germany.

England 0 - 7 Portugal

Half-time 0-3

Excellent first 15 minutes of the game as England played same level as Portugal. We were very focused and consistent on our man to man restricted making Portugal run out of ideas. During this period we create 4 good opportunities as well as missing a direct free hit before Portugal scored their first goal 4 minutes to go. In the last minute of the first half we conceded 2 more goals from defence mistakes. Portugal dominated the second half due to tiredness of our players which is normal considering most of our players train once a week whilst Portuguese are professional training 4 times a week.
Overall England had one the best performance against one the top team in the world, well done.

Ian Morrison comments after the game:
It was a really professional effort from everyone with good attitude. Anytime of the game the team put the heads down. The defence is a lot more stronger and if it was not for fitness we could probably held up longer. We are now trying to play against teams like Portugal rather then sit back. Now we look forward to play Switzerland and with the same attitude we can cause an upset.

 
European Championship Seniors is being held in Oviedo- Spain from 21st to 26th July 2008 and
8 countries are participating in this competition.
Group A - Spain, Italy, France and Holland
Group B - Switzerland, Portugal, England and Germany
England will play their first game on Monday against Portugal at 19:15 hours (18:15 hours in England). Tomorrow they will play Switzerland at 15:45 hours and Wednesday the last game of the group against Germany at 17:30 hours.
England Team:
1- Ian Smith (Middlesbrough)
2- John Jones (Middlesbrough)
3- Karl Smith (HBU)
4- Marc Waddingham (Grimsby)
5- Marc Rutland (Middlesbrough)
6- Grant Zaccarias (Middlesbrough)
7- James Taylor - Captain (Italy)
8- Michael Ableson (Middlesbrough)
9- Russell Lloyd (Plymouth)
10- Ian Morrison (Areces-Spain)

James Taylor captain of the team mentioned his feelings regarding participation in this competition:
It is a new young team and because limited preparation it is been hard to gel on the rink but from the time we have been together. We are coming on well and I think it is positive for English Roller Hockey. Another positive is that off the rink there is a good “team atmosphere” and everyone gets on very well. Although we have had a short time together I feel very comfortable with my team mates. Everyone has a good understanding of the tactics and the way Carlos wants us to play. The objective is to be competitive in every game and improve for the “world’s” next year. Hopefully we can get some positive results. I have played under Carlos for many years now and I know that any team he coaches will be very organised; so I am always happy with that aspect.

England Senior Team

This week Carlos Amaral NRHA’s head coach announced the team that will represent England at this year’s Seniors European Championships in Oviedo Spain. The bi-annual championships will start on Monday 21st July at 3.45pm with Switzerland v Germany. Our boys will have their first match against the unforgiving Portugal at 7.15pm (6.15pm British time). England are in the same group as Portugal, Switzerland and Germany, at the last Senior European championships in Monza, Italy our team were victorious over Germany. Switzerland have a new team this year and expectations of a successful tournament for the Brits are high. Congratulation to the following players who will be going to Spain on Sunday.

Russell Lloyd (Plymouth RHC)
Marc Waddingham (Grimsby RHC)
James Taylor (Hockey Sarzana, Italy)
Grant Zaccaria (Middlesbrough RHC)
Michael Ableson (Middlesbrough RHC)
Karl Smith (Herne Bay United RH&SC)
John Jones (Middlesbrough RHC)
Ian Smith (Middlesbrough RHC)
Ian Morrison (Areces, Spain)
Marc Rutland (Middlesbrough RHC)

Management
Carlos Amaral
Ron Barker
Steve Taylor

John Jones and Simon Hosking

This years National Cup Final was a great success with the day ending with a fantastic mens senior match. Fourteen teams competed for seven titles in all of our sports age groups. Congratulations go to the winners Under 11’s Kings Lynn, Under 15’s Peterborough, Ladies South team, Under 17’s Bury, Under 13’s Kings Lynn, Under 20’s Bury and Seniors Herne Bay United who were all victorious on the day.

During the day other awards were presented and a big congratulations goes out to the following players, under 11’s player of the year went to Alex Mount under 15’s player of the year went to Sam Cayley, under 15’s most improved play went to Chloe Stevenson, ladies player of the year went to Kirsty Ingham, under 17’s player of the year went to Owen Stewart, under 13’s player of the year went to Kieran Brady, under 20’s player of the year went to Josh Bishop and the under Senior player of the year went to John Jones.

In addition to the matches and presentations the July 600 club was drawn. Congratulations goes out to Tim Nelson for winning £150.

Ladies final result North 0 - 4 South

SEE THE PICTURES

Male match results

 
At cup final day (Eastern Counties) Keith kindly gave us £50 to raffle. We sold 95 tickets that’s £95 profit. Then Arthur won the prize and generously let us keep it. That means we raised £145.

To date we have also raised £155 from a Tombola, £90 from 2 raffles, £250 from our cake stalls and £90 from Heathers cake sale that’s a grand total of £730.

We have several prizes left from the Tombola so will be holding a raffle at the next National Training Weekend which includes a skater standard stick, wine, glasses, kiddies garden set, pottery wheel and mugs.

The England Ladies We would like to thank everyone for their support and generosity

Lucy Rivers