FIH Pro League: Mixed fortunes for Great Britain teams

Great Britain’s men consolidated their spot at the top of the FIH Pro League table in front of a sell-out crowd at the Lee Valley Hockey & Tennis Centre with their first victory over Belgium since 2018. 

But in the corresponding women’s fixture, it was the Belgians who gained the upper hand, defeating the hosts 3-2.

Having beaten India 4-2 on Friday, with goals from Tim Nurse, Tom Sorsby, Lee Morton and Nick Bandurak, GB’s men opened the scoring against the run of play when Zach Wallace found Sam Ward to cross for Stuart Rushmere to find the net.

And they doubled their lead soon after as Jack Waller took the ball into the circle for Rupert Shipperley to force a save from Loic van Doren, before Waller converted the rebound.

Bandurak fired home from a penalty corner to make it 3-0 at half-time, but Tanguy Cosyns hit back from a Belgian corner early in the third quarter.

But despite piling on the pressure and forcing five successive corners at one point, they couldn’t find a way through the dogged home defence again.

Player of the match Waller said: “We’re delighted with the three points. We always want to be on the front foot, very hard to beat, however there’s still a lot to improve on and we’re going to be putting that in action next week.

“London is an amazing venue to play hockey at. All the other nations say it and we really feel it and we couldn’t be happier with the crowd. It’s such an amazing atmosphere so thanks very much.”

GB’s women had beaten China 1-0 thanks to a Hannah Martin goal and took the lead against their Belgian rivals when Grace Balsdon fired home from the penalty spot.

But Charlotte Engelbert levelled with a powerful strike from the top of the D in the second quarter, with Louise Versavel and Emily White combining to beat Sabbie Heesh again before half-time.

Vanessa Blockmans fed Alexia t’Serstevens to set up Astrid Bonami to make it 3-2, but GB hit back in the final quarter through Giselle Ansley’s penalty corner strike.

But they could not force an equaliser in a frantic finish as Belgium held on for a second win of the weekend.

GB face China again on June 2 (5.10pm) and Belgium on June 4 (3.10pm), while the men meet India (June 3) and Belgium (June 4), with both matches starting at 12.40pm.