Jean Fitch
5 days ago
Sport

Bedford player nets European Championship opener

Bedford Hockey Club’s Ladies’ First Team player, Kelly Bingham, is currently representing England Women’s O45s in Valencia, whilst the squad participate in the European Masters Hockey Championships.

Kelly in action at Bedford Hockey Club

The opening match, on Friday (23rd) saw the team take on Scotland, and it was Kelly who opened the scoring, just 3 minutes into the match.

Despite Scotland levelling the score, 10-minutes later, England went on to dominate, the match finishing 7-1 to England.

After a rest day on Saturday, the team were back in action on Sunday, fronting up to Ireland, and it was Kelly, now with 19 international caps to her name, who struck again, taking England into the lead from a Penalty Corner, in the dying seconds of the first quarter.

Despite several more Penalty Corners awarded to England, the score remained 1-0 until England secured the win, with a goal from open play, one minute into the third quarter.

The final match of the Pool stages saw Australia, who had already experienced losses in both their previous matches, face the power of top of the table, England.

England put in yet another clinical performance, crushing Australia with a 9-0 victory.

Wednesday (28th) has Kelly and her squad face Belgium in the quarter-final play-offs, looking to progress to the semi-finals on Friday and the grand final on the 1st of June.