Britain finish sixth at Euro meet
15th July 2007Great Britain finished sixth in the LEN European Nations Trophy after a 10-8 loss to Ukraine at the Manchester Aquatics Centre.
Montenegro were triumphant in their debut at the competition, defeating France 19-9 in the Final on Day Eight of the competition, while Belarus, conquerors of Britain, won Bronze.
Britain and Manchester goalkeeper Ed Scott was named Most Valuable Goalkeeper ahead of some of the world's best stoppers, while Tom Curwen, of Lancaster, was second in the scoring charts to France captain Frederic Audon, the competition's Most Valuable Player. Curwen scored 25 times in eight games, while Audon netted 41 times in seven matches.
Eelco Uri's British side slumped to their fourth defeat of the LEN European Nations Trophy in his final match in charge - the Dutchman is leaving his role after nine months as coach - but surpassed expectations on their return to the European stage after a long absence.
Uri's side have secured a place in the LEN European Championship qualification tournament in January 2008 for their top-six finish at this event. They beat Ukraine 10-9 in their Group B match on Thursday to earn a place in the quarter-finals where they were defeated 10-5 by Belarus, who won the bronze medal with an 8-7 triumph over Macedonia.
"I think the boys played a really good game and they showed what might be possible in future," said Uri. "If the right work is done over the next couple of years we'll be able to beat teams like Ukraine and Poland at the next European B Championships."
Britain fielded a young side - the majority in their early 20s - and are in the early stages of their preparations for London 2012. Water polo players do not mature until their late 20s and this group of players will be at their peak in five years' time.
Britain struggled in the first half against Ukraine and were three goals down at half-time. They recovered to win the final period 5-2 but could not do enough to equalise and force extra time.
Bristol Central's Matthew Thresher cancelled out Serhiy Grishyn's opening goal before Vladyslav Soslovskiy put Ukraine ahead. Andrew Squires hit back with two minutes to go in the quarter when the Lancaster man drilled the ball past Petro Radivilov.
Cheltenham's Mark Banwell levelled the scores with a typical centre forward's goal, beating Denys Kolesnikov before shooting high into the net and Lancaster's Scott Carpenter hit the post moments later as Britain looked to level.
Scott was forced to save from Roman Olefirenko and Tymur Shylin at the other end but then Kolesnikov beat the Manchester goalkeeper with a skip shot from five metres. Soslovskiy netted for a second time and he scored an unstoppable shot from six metres to complete his hat-trick and give Ukraine a three-goal cushion.
Radivilov denied Parker and Carpenter early in the third and Shylin grabbed his first of the match when Thresher was given his second personal foul. Britain almost got one back immediately when Lancaster's Tom Curwen hit the post following Kostyantyn Shevchenko's exclusion.
Britain's captain Craig Figes received his second exclusion and Scott saved from Shylin in the resulting 6-on-5. The Manchester stopper then saved from Grishyn. Soslovskiy scored his fourth on the fast break to open up a five-goal lead with 21 seconds of the third remaining.
Cheltenham's Rob Parker and Squires each scored extra-man goals to reduce the deficit to three but Kolesnikov scored his second of the game to restore the four-goal lead.
Curwen scored his first of the game for Britain to pull a goal back and Figes scored his first to move them to within two with 3:30 to go. Centre forward Volodymyr Voytenko put the result beyond doubt with a goal 1:01 from the buzzer. Sedgefield's Chris Gilbertson scored with 35 seconds left when Olefirenko was excluded but it was too late to save Britain from defeat.
Boris Zlokovic and Vladimir Gojkovic each scored four in the 44th and final match of the competition as Montenegro lifted the title. France captain Audon claimed three.