Four Nations Tournament winners - Great Britain celebrate!GREAT Britain were crowned winners of the Four Nations Tournament on Saturday, despite narrowly losing out 15-16 to the Faroe Islands in their final game at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.
The Faroes' victory meant they, Great Britain and Latvia were tied on four points each - and the fate of the Tournament was decided on goal difference in the match between those three teams, in accordance with EHF rules.
With results involving Turkey Under-21s having been stripped out, GB were left on +4, Faroes on -1 and Latvia on -3.
The evening began with an air of anticipation as the crowds arrived at the EIS with the GB knowing a win would see them lift the trophy in front of their home crowd.
However, the Faroes opened the scoring through their top-scorer Simona Petersen as both teams competed physically with a number of personal duels taking place all over the court.
Most noticeably was the threat posed by the Faroes Gurid Mortensen who acted as human brick wall for the GB attack, as well as converting a number of penalties to give the Faroes an early advantage.
A Daniela Sposi penalty on 13:01 brought the scores level at 4-4 and GB took the lead for the first time with another Sposi penalty just 30 seconds later.
Further strikes from Kelsi Fairbrother, Lynn McCafferty and Yvonne Leuthold opened up an 8-4 lead to GB by 20:39, but the Faroes replied through Ninna Johansen and Mortensen who then converted two penalties just before the break to take the teams in 8-8.
Left-winger Holly Lam-Moores gave GB the first goal of the second period, but Unn Kragesteen started to make her presence felt as she brought the game level again at 9-9. Fairbrother then stepped up again with two strikes, including a penalty, but the Faroes were never too far behind and the teams exchanged goals and penalties until midway through the second half as GB made some elemental mistakes in attack which put paid to them opening up a lead.
GB were helped with withdrawal of Mortensen through injury in the second half, but the Faroes were still more than a match for the home side as they continued to threaten through Petersen and Kragesteen and it was these who started to open up a lead for the Faroes.
First Petersen scored following a rebound off of Sarah Hargreaves’ head after it struck the post and then again following good build-up play from Kragesteen to make it 16-14 with less than five minutes left at which point GB called a time-out to rally their troops.
Following the time out GB were again guilty of basic errors, perhaps due to nerves, as Sposi hit the post, but Leuthold’s strike with just over a minute left got the crowd off of their feet to make it 16-15 to the Faroes.
With just 30 seconds left the crowd had thought GB had brought it back level but Britt Goodwin’s finish was ruled out for stepping inside the area.
However, the drama didn’t stop though as the Faroes called a timeout which worked up the crowd for the finale as GB desperately tried to snatch the ball from their opposition who played out the final seconds to clinch the win, but not the tournament.
Daniela Sposi top-scored for GB with five goals to end the tournament as the hosts top-scorer, but the title of the tournament top-scorer went to the Faroe Islands’ Simona Petersen with her eight goals in the match taking her final tally to 23 for the tournament.
Faroe Islands Scorers: Simona Petersen 8, Gurid Mortensen 4, Unn Kragesteen 2, Ninna Johansen 1, Una Olsen 1.
GB Scorers: Daniela Sposi 5, Kelsi Fairbrother 4, Yvonne Leuthold 3, Lynn McCafferty 1, Holly Lam-Moores 1, Britt Goodwin 1.
The Faroes' victory meant they, Great Britain and Latvia were tied on four points each - and the fate of the Tournament was decided on goal difference in the match between those three teams, in accordance with EHF rules.
With results involving Turkey Under-21s having been stripped out, GB were left on +4, Faroes on -1 and Latvia on -3.
The evening began with an air of anticipation as the crowds arrived at the EIS with the GB knowing a win would see them lift the trophy in front of their home crowd.
However, the Faroes opened the scoring through their top-scorer Simona Petersen as both teams competed physically with a number of personal duels taking place all over the court.
Most noticeably was the threat posed by the Faroes Gurid Mortensen who acted as human brick wall for the GB attack, as well as converting a number of penalties to give the Faroes an early advantage.
A Daniela Sposi penalty on 13:01 brought the scores level at 4-4 and GB took the lead for the first time with another Sposi penalty just 30 seconds later.
Further strikes from Kelsi Fairbrother, Lynn McCafferty and Yvonne Leuthold opened up an 8-4 lead to GB by 20:39, but the Faroes replied through Ninna Johansen and Mortensen who then converted two penalties just before the break to take the teams in 8-8.
Left-winger Holly Lam-Moores gave GB the first goal of the second period, but Unn Kragesteen started to make her presence felt as she brought the game level again at 9-9. Fairbrother then stepped up again with two strikes, including a penalty, but the Faroes were never too far behind and the teams exchanged goals and penalties until midway through the second half as GB made some elemental mistakes in attack which put paid to them opening up a lead.
GB were helped with withdrawal of Mortensen through injury in the second half, but the Faroes were still more than a match for the home side as they continued to threaten through Petersen and Kragesteen and it was these who started to open up a lead for the Faroes.
First Petersen scored following a rebound off of Sarah Hargreaves’ head after it struck the post and then again following good build-up play from Kragesteen to make it 16-14 with less than five minutes left at which point GB called a time-out to rally their troops.
Following the time out GB were again guilty of basic errors, perhaps due to nerves, as Sposi hit the post, but Leuthold’s strike with just over a minute left got the crowd off of their feet to make it 16-15 to the Faroes.
With just 30 seconds left the crowd had thought GB had brought it back level but Britt Goodwin’s finish was ruled out for stepping inside the area.
However, the drama didn’t stop though as the Faroes called a timeout which worked up the crowd for the finale as GB desperately tried to snatch the ball from their opposition who played out the final seconds to clinch the win, but not the tournament.
Daniela Sposi top-scored for GB with five goals to end the tournament as the hosts top-scorer, but the title of the tournament top-scorer went to the Faroe Islands’ Simona Petersen with her eight goals in the match taking her final tally to 23 for the tournament.
Faroe Islands Scorers: Simona Petersen 8, Gurid Mortensen 4, Unn Kragesteen 2, Ninna Johansen 1, Una Olsen 1.
GB Scorers: Daniela Sposi 5, Kelsi Fairbrother 4, Yvonne Leuthold 3, Lynn McCafferty 1, Holly Lam-Moores 1, Britt Goodwin 1.
Text: Andrew McSteen, LOCSP.org
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