CHN - GBR Report

CHN 9:1 (5:1) GBR China turned on the style to record their first victory of 2008 and look set for an improvement on 16th place 2 years ago.  Their opponents were Great Britain, who did actually beat China in 2006, but didn't put up much of a fight this time around.  The return of Stephen Harrison to the GB squad was a relief for head coach Dell, and GB started positively, creating more chances in the opening ten minutes than in the whole of the Slovenia defeat.  Harrison added some much needed experience and ability to the squad and orchestrated the best of Great Britain's early chances.  It was, however, China, who broke the deadlock when Fei Yan slotted home after a fumble in the GB area.  China added a second and looked like adding more doom and gloom to Great Britain's campaign but Shane Gill got them back in the game when he pounced on a chance after 8 minutes to make the score 2-1.  Great Britain then shot themselves in the foot and conceded a sloppy third and China took advantage to go into the break 5-1 up.  The second half saw GB sit back and defend allowing China to create more chances and in the end they won 9-1, the final goal coming on the stroke of full time.