Kelsi Fairbrother watches as she scores against Turkey Under-21s. GREAT Britain made an emphatic start to their Four Nations Handball Tournament with a 22-13 victory over Turkey Under-21s - but their victory was marred by a knee injury to Michelle Skovgaard.
The left back had been one of the stars of the show in the first half and scored five goals, but 15 minutes into the second period she twisted awkwardly on the edge of the goal area and was carried off.
The game begun at a frantic pace with a series of yellow cards for both sides, but it was an impressive performance from Skovgaard that really got the home team settled in.
The crowd was lifted when an impressive interception and perfectly weighted long pass went to Kelsi Fairbrother who scored a spectacular airborne goal.
Turkey, whose preparations had been thrown into disarray the night before when their first choice goalkeeper Berna Zor broke a finger in a late night practice session, showed enough threat to cause GB worry but the home defence held firm with GB ‘keeper Sarah Hargreaves making a series of instinctive saves.
The first five minutes of the second half saw the scores locked at 9-8, with Turkey looking threatening until Holly Lam-Moores weighed in with a goal that broke the relative deadlock and allowed GB some breathing space.
It was then time for Lyn Byl, who plies her trade for Leverkusen in Germany, to make her mark as she scored two impressive goals in the space of a minute, which was then followed by some more excellent work by Hargreaves in the net.
Fairbrother had an injury scare herself when she was pushed in the back, but she returned for the second half to wreak havoc in the Turkish side.
A succession of strikes for GB saw them take a commanding lead going into the last ten minutes and as the lead grew, Turkey couldn’t cope with the pressure as Kubra Sen was red-carded and GB walked away with a 22-13 victory.
Great Britain scorers: Skovgaard 5, Byl 4, Goodwin 4, Fairbrother 3, Leuthold 1, Sposi 1, Palies 1, Lam-Moores 1.
Turkey U21 scorers: Hosgor 5, Salur 2, Sen 2, Arslan 1, Sevgilican 1, Yildiz 1, Akgun 1.
Text: Andrew McSteen, LOCSP.org
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