England’s Cerebral Palsy team lost out to the Paralympic and World Champions Russia in the quarter final of the CPISRA European Championships in Portugal on Tuesday.
Keith Webb’s squad knew they faced a stern test against the tournament favourites and Russia came out of the blocks very quickly, giving the England team full respect following their superb display in the previous game against Ukraine.
Russia CPs 5-1 England CPs
CPISRA European Championships
Tuesday 29 July 2014
Maia, Portugal
Goalkeeper Giles Moore made four saves inside the opening couple of minutes but was powerless to stop the Russians taking an early lead.
England looked to pull themselves back into the game and Martin Sinclair had a shot from distance tipped over the bar soon after.
After a mid-half drinks break to compensate for the searing heat, Russia doubled their lead with an almost identically worked goal to their opener and two more goals just before the break saw the Russians go in four goals ahead.
Head coach Webb made three changes during the break which paid dividends as two of those substitutes combined to pull a goal back for England. Ollie Nugent picked the ball up on the halfway line and drove forward, beating a couple of Russian defenders before cutting back and squaring the ball across the box to fellow replacement George Fletcher, who shot across the goalkeeper to score.
But the Russians were undeterred and restored their four-goal advantage shortly after.
The final whistle saw Russia confirmed as the victors but England showed, once again, the progression they have made.
The result means that Russia progressed to the semi-finals against Ukraine whilst England will now face Northern Ireland on Thursday with a spot in the fifth place play-off up for grabs.
The England CPs line-up to face Russia
"We always knew it was going to be a tough game, they are the best team in the world," admitted Webb after the game.
"However, our display against Ukraine before undoubtedly made them think differently about us and they gave us their full respect with the team they selected.
"We can be proud of the way team played in the second half, coming away with a draw after what was a difficult first half.
"Now we have to finish this tournament in as high a position as we can, starting with the next game on Thursday."
England: G. Moore, M. Sinclair, K. Townshend, J. Rutter (c) (O. Nugent), H. Baker (G. Fletcher), J. Blackwell (A. Mullin), M. Barker
Goal: G. Fletcher (34).
