Goal by goal: Joanna Wray blogs from Turkey - Day One

After the flight chaos of the volcanic ash saga we managed to get to Turkey today, Friday, landing with a squad of 15 athletes after meeting at Manchester Airport at 5am this morning. 

The second quarter was when we really started pushing against Ukraine

This is the first tournament we have played since the return of the boys that played in the Australian League for the season and although the team had trained together, this competition was key to ensure all players knew the team plays and could fit back together after six months apart.

The early start was obviously not the ideal preparation for going into a competition, but at 3.30pm we arrived in Ankara and got taken straight to the swimming pool.  The tournament is hosted by the Turkish Federation and consists of Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus and us.

First match was Turkey versus Belarus with a low scoring game of 9-4 to Turkey.  Next game was GB V Ukraine.

We opened the scoring straight away but Ukraine drew one straight back.  Tom Curwen scored an amazing long range goal that bulleted into the back of the net to make us 2-1 up.  The rest of the quarter was tit for tat, with a goal for each side finishing at 4-3 to us.

The second quarter was when we really started pushing against Ukraine.  A couple of good goals from Scott and Rob meant we were ahead and from then kept edging away finishing at half time 9-3 up.  The third and fourth quarter continued in the same style showing that GB were really a league ahead of this team. 

Some impressive goals were scored from a large range of players on our squad and the game ended a convincing 16-5.  Cristian Lordache, head coach, summed up the performance well.

He said: "if you compare our team to the last few competitions we have played in, the team has really progressed well.  We played a balanced game with the younger players showing they have caught up well with the more experienced players.  The team was united and well focused, a  good result."

Goal scorers

Stats and squad information

• Shots: scored 16 from 24 shots on goal
• Man ups: scored 5 from 6
• Squad: Matthew Holland, Ciaran James, Glen Robinson, Scott Carpenter, Craig Figes, Jake Vincent, Alex Parsonage, Tom Curwen, Rob Parker, Adam Scholefield, Jack Waller, Sean King, Sean Ryder, Richard Lawlor.