Gibraltar take blow in first match of Open Series

The first day of competition was to bring little joy for Gibraltar in the FIH Hockey Series in Lousada Portugal. A 5-0 defeat, although a heavy blow for the first day of play highlighted the high level of opposition Gibraltar faces in this competition in which opponents such as Russia were already known to provide very stiff opposition.
Gibraltar went behind in the 18th minute and held on during the first half to only concede one further by the 38th minute. With hockey now an open game, as Christian Zammit had commented prior to the squad departure Russia’s three next goals came during a nine minute period of play putting Gibraltar 5-0 behind.
In other matches for the same tournament Scotland beat Turkey 7-2, whilst Belarus beat Portugal 2-1. Gibraltar next faced Belarus. They will be playing Scotland today.
Russia are currently ranked 23rd in the world rankings, some 43 places above Gibraltar who is ranked at 66.FULL STORY IN OUR PRINT AND E-EDITIONS