England

0-1

Holland

 

 

Melis 78

England Women v Holland
International Friendly
7.45pm, Wednesday 14 March 2007 
County Ground, Swindon Town FC
14 Mar 2007
VIDEO: England 0-1 Holland

England go down to a single goal from Manon Melis in the last of three World Cup warm up games.

England suffered a surprise defeat in their final game of their trio of friendly matches, going down to a single goal at the hands of Holland.

In a game of few chances the Dutch visitors got their tactics spot on to go some way to avenging their double defeat to the Three Lions during qualifying for the World Cup.

England were never able to recreate the sparkle of last August when they despatched the Dutch 4-0 at the Valley, with a fine hat-trick from Kelly Smith on that night.

The players will undoubtedly learn from this experience, a game in which they were expected to dictate the play and create chances, but in which their opponents stifled their attacking intentions and frustrated Hope Powell's side.

Katie Chapman thought she had opened the scoring just four minutes in when she got on the end of a Fara Williams through ball, but her celebrations were cut short when the linesman flagged for offside.

With Anouk Hoogendijk shadowing Kelly Smith's every move in midfield, England found it difficult in the early stages to create clear cut opportunities as they did so readily against Russia.

Rachel Brown was also called into action more than once in the opening 25 minutes, but showed her concentration to stop first Manon Melis and then Sherida Spitse.

Spitse almost turned villain for the visitors when she nearly put the ball past her own keeper. Tracking the run of Katie Chapman, the Dutch midfielder stuck out a leg to prevent the Arsenal powerhouse meeting a through pass from Williams, but her deflected effort brought a fine save out of Loes Geurts in goal.

Kelly Smith did her best to liven the crowd just moments before half time with a spectacular effort on the volley. Receiving the ball from her Arsenal teammate Katie Chapman, Smith juggled the ball while holding off the attentions of Hoogendijk before lashing a left-footed effort narrowly over the bar.

In the second period it was Kelly Smith at the heart of all England's good work, but ghosted so adeptly by the 21-year-old Hoogendijk it was difficult for her to truly find the cutting edge.

Rachel Yankey came close with a header, reacting to a flick from Emily Westwood at the back post the Arsenal winger jumped highest but the goalkeeper was in the right place to tip the ball over the bar.

Manon Melis opened the scoring with just 12 minutes remaining, latching on to a superb through pass from Torny the Dutch forward fired the ball low into the bottom corner past a despairing Rachel Brown in the England goal.

It was no more than the number nine deserved for her stubborn performances Kelly Smith came close to responding two minutes later, Katie Chapman linked up well with Eniola Aluko on the right flanked before sending a dangerous ball across the face of the goal. Unfortunately for Smith her move was once again flanked by Hoogendijk and she was unable to connect with the delivery from Chapman.

Teams:

England: 1 Rachel Brown, 2 Alex Scott, 3 Casey Stoney, 4 Katie Chapman, 5 Anita Asante, 6 Emily Westwood, 7 Karen Carney (21 Stephanie Houghton 79), 8 Fara Williams, 9 Eniola Aluko, 10 Kelly Smith (c), 11 Rachel Yankey (19 Jo Potter 69)

Subs Not Used: 12 Laura Bassett 13 Siobhan Chamberlain 14 Rachel Unitt 15 Jill Scott 16 Vicky Exley 17. Jody Handley 18 Lianne Sanderson 20 Mary Phillip

Holland: Loes Geurts, Dyanne Bito, Liesbeth Migchelson, Marloes De Boer, Petra Hogewoning, Anouk Hoogendijk, Sherida Spitse, Jessica Torny (Claudia van der Heiligenberg 89), Manon Melis, Linda Bos (Karin Legemate 62), Sylvia Smit

Subs Not Used: Marije Brummel, Miranda Verrips, Dionne Demarteau, Jennifer Voss, Nadja Olthuis, , Sanne Pluim
 
Referee: Amy Rayner

Attendance: 5,957