By Neil Goulding (2010 FIL World Championships Press Officer, 07813 859986)
ENGLAND Head Coach Dave Elwood paid a glowing tribute to his on-song side as the made a welcome winning start to the 2010 FIL World Championships i Manchester. England cruised to an emphatic 12-3 victory over Germany in front of a decent crowd in the opening match of the Blue Division at the University of Manchester Armitage Centre. A solid team performance included starring roles from Lewis Ratcliff, the attackman on target with three goals and four assists, while fellow attacker Adrian Bennett bagged a hat-trick.
And goalkeeper Ben McAllister played a starring role between the posts with 16 saves from 29 shots. Todd Baxter scored twice, while Matt Bagley, Sam Russell, Nick Watson and Tom Gosnay were also on the scoresheet as England dominated to delight their supporters. England had been due to play Germany in an exhibition match after the Iroquois - who might not possibly now competing in this year's tournament - forfeited their opening fixture because of passport problems.
But the ILF ruled that Germany would be promoted to the Blue Division - and so the opening match became an official contest instead of an exhibition scrimmage.
"Defensively we played tough," reflected Elwood. "We've got a very athletic defence. In attack we can throw the ball, so we're happy about where we are right now. "But now we're going to step forward and make sure we don't rest on this victory.
"It's fantastic to start with a win, but by no means is it going to get any easier for us. I said at the start of the week that we're playing against six fantastic teams in this [Blue] Division. "Sadly the Iroquois have gone, but Germany have stepped in and they're a really good side. But there's another four other really strong sides and we're going to be tested in every match.
"The Japanese have great speed, Australia look strong and the Americans and Canada are very strong, so we're going to have to play well. It's going to be very hard work to win games in this Division. But we're focused and ready to go." Reflecting on a rollercoaster day which saw the proposed exhibition match with Germany turn into a fully-fledged Blue Division match, Elwood added: "It's been a interesting start for us!
"We were told at 7am this morning that we were playing an exhibition game - and we were more than happy to do that because English Lacrosse have worked so hard to make these Championships a success.
"We could have kicked up a fuss but we didn't and then at 5.10pm we were told that this [the match] was officially going to be a game. We'd set up all day for an exhibition game.
"If they [the FIL] had told us at 7am in the morning then it would be fantastic, but I thought the guys reacted fantastically well to the situation. They switched on, got focused and played the game really well.
"The lads could have easily been distracted. We got them together and when we told them what was happening. You could see the change in their eyes about the level of expectation. That's when we decided that we were going to give this match everything and make sure we won. "I feel very sad for the Iroquois, but at the same time I feel fantastic for the Germans. They might have lost, but they've worked so hard to get to where they are and they deserve their chance. "They knocked on the door [at the last World Championships], so I'm really pleased for them. It's a massive jump up for them and you could see they were nervous at the start.
"But [head coach] Jack Kaley has done a great job with him and they're a really honest bunch of players, so I'm really pleased for them to be at this level."
With victory England went top of the Blue Division at this early stage - and Elwood was understandably delighted his side scooped maximum points to give them plenty of confidence for the rest of the tournament.
"The main thing for us is that we got maximum points," added Elwood. "We got a bit excited in the second half and everything was happening too quickly, so we called a time-out and we put something in. They [the players] went from there and it worked better for us.
"We told the boys to slow down and play our own game, which was what we needed. We won the third quarter 5-0 and then controlled the second half.
"We'll have a rest day tomorrow (Frid
ay), have a little down time tomorrow and scout our next opposition. Our guys are so excited to be here and the chance to play in front of a big crowd. It's a great experience for us.
"All we can do is control the controllables, that's all we can do. We can look forward to the next game and take it one game at a time. Let's see where we are next week because we'd like to play in a semi-final." Blue Division result: England 12 Germany 3 England scorers:
Lewis Ratcliff 3 (+ 4 assists)
Adi Bennett 3 Todd Baxter 2 Tom Gosnay 1 Sam Russell 1 Matt Bagley 1 Nick Watson 1 Ben McAllister 16 saves from 26 shots
Germany scorers: Gregory Lazarus 2 Matt Althauser 1
