GB score convincing first match victory
8th November 2013The British Gas GBR Men’s Water Polo team hit the ground running with a comprehensive victory in their opening match of the 2014 LEN European Championship Qualifiers in Sunderland.
The Brits scored their highest match total to date in this qualifying campaign as they saw off a depleted Moldovan side 36-8 (8-1, 7-0, 13-2, 8-5).
With the Moldovans limited to a squad of just eight players, the Brits made no mistakes in putting their opponents to the sword with Joe O’Regan and Jake Vincent scoring five each.
And while goalkeeper and captain Ed Scott admitted it was a morale-boosting victory, he is under no illusion that greater tests are to come in their matches against Israel and Russia over the next two days.
“It was the easiest game we’ll play this week but we had a strong start and we kept up the tempo throughout the four quarters,” said Scott.
“We could have dropped to their level so we did well to keep it up all game.
“We had a strong game against Israel last week and beat them comfortably so we’ll look to carry on our momentum from today and get another result tomorrow.
“The games are going to get tougher through the week but we’ll look to improve and peak for Russia on Saturday which will be the toughest match of the competition for us.”
The Brits came into the match with plenty of confidence, having defeated Moldova 18-7 in July’s second round of qualifiers in Slovakia and won their warm-up tournament in Malta last week.
Jack Waller was one of the scorers in the teams’ previous meetings and it was he who started the ball rolling for GB in Sunderland, grabbing a first quarter hat-trick as the Brits stamped down their authority early on.
O’Regan and Vincent got in on the act with goals in the second quarter and with a 15-1 advantage at half time, the game was all but out of sight for Moldova.
Vincent and Glen Robinson both scored third quarter hat-tricks and there was even a goal for Matt Holland in the final quarter, the British goalkeeper catching his opposite number unawares on a change of possession.
Russia defeated Israel in the other match of the opening session in Sunderland.
The Russians came into this third round of qualification undefeated with nine wins and a draw under their belt.
And Israel never looked like causing them an upset as Russia ran out 22-10 winners (5-2, 7-1, 5-3, 5-4).