View from the bench by Ben Carless (Italy)

Wales v Italy - a players' report





THe following is a report by Ben Carless, edited for fear of offending innocents...



"The Welsh strode out against the Italians knowing that only a win would satisfy the large contingent of passionate Welsh supporters in the crowd. THe early exchanges were tight with some burrowing runs from the menacing Welsh forward line. The defence held tight with rock solid tackles from the talismanic duo of Bond and Trem while the Italians were running into a wall of passion and determination all over the pitch. A dazzling run from Carless (ed says: ???? dazzling?) and an audacious through ball from Rees gave Dolan-Gray a one v one opportunity with the Italian keeper. The energetic ODG slotted the ball past the trailing foot of the keeper for Bury to slot home from an inch.

Some wise words from TYler and Gooderham at half time ensured the Welsh wizards were switched on for the second half. A couple of tense exchanges led to some superb agile saves from Williams in goal with jedi-like reactions on more than one occasion. Wales earned a penalty corner from a brave Lloyd_Penny run on the left who battled illness to be part of the game. Furlong stepped up and fired the ball home and saluted the hordes of Welsh supporters.

With the pressure building, some excellent defending from the cohort of Welsh warriors left the Italians frustrated and their penalty corners smothered by brave challenges from the Welsh defence. In the 55th minute, a Welsh counter attack led to captain Rees calmly walking the ball into the net. Further Italian advances were nullified by the work ethic of the Welsh team, leading to the historic 3-0 win in the Austrian capital.

After the match, excitable team manager, Jon Upton was keen to congratulate the players. "They were ace" he said.

(Edited for spelling, grammar and impudence by J.Upton. Ben is at Bath University despite his photo)