England’s first match of the World Championship was against Andorra. This was always going to be tight. In the last encounter last year in Monza England secured victory only at the very end.

In this match Andorra took the initiative in true Spanish style and pinned England back in their own half. This warmed up Dan Barton in the England goal nicely. The England team of Brendan, Neil, James and Michael weathered the storm and a time out changed our tactics to balance things up. England also had to get used to the rink with changes of surface from a grippy floor to slippery advertisements.

England were playing very consistently both in defence and attack and a goal came right at the end of the half. England had just survived an Andorra attack and had a free hit in our area. James slapped the ball up the rink and Brendan tipped it into the Andorra net with 7 seconds left on the clock.

The second half saw England continue to gain the initiative and James took the score to 2-0 after 5 minutes. England had plenty of shots but with 2 minutes to go, with both teams tiring, Andorra scored from a miss hit which dipped below Dan’s glove. This set up a tense couple of minutes of the match to end 2-1 to England.

During the match Brendan and James each picked up two yellow cards and Neil was felled by a slap shot that hit him just above the knee. Andorra picked up a similar number of cards which looks about par for the course here. Everyone played well and the consistency of Neil and Dan set a platform to deliver the result.

Next match Italy tonight.