Gareth Furlong’s red-hot goal streak continued in the end as he hammered home four more to earn Wales a 9-0 final round victory over host nation Croatia to guarantee promotion to Hockey Open Series 2 next year.
The only blip during a near perfect week for Furlong and his team mates was a 3-0 defeat to Austria, the only team ranked higher than them in the World Rankings, and their top-two finish means they will move up another level to give themselves the perfect build-up to their EuroHockey Championship campaign in Belgium next year.
Surbiton HC defender Furlong hasn’t been able to stop scoring this year. He converted a vital penalty corner to help his club draw 3-3 with Hampstead & Westminster before going on to retain their Hockey League Championship title with a 3-2 win in the penalty shoot-out and ended the week in Zagreb with nine of Wales’ 22 goals in their four matches.
“Given that Croatia had only gone down 3-2 to Austria, we were expecting a very tough game. I don’t think any of us, players of coaches, expected us to put them away in such emphatic style,” said a delighted Wales head coach, Zak Jones.
“It was a great way to end a week that started with a bit of disappointment with our lack of clinical finishing against Slovakia and then the defeat to Austria. But the good thing is we have scored a lot of goals against the three weaker sides, whereas in the past we’ve struggled to scrape a win.
“We took all our chances against the Croatians and it was great to see Gareth score four and for young Rhys Bradshaw to get his second of the week. He is an exceptional talent and is learning all the time in the senior environment.
“Now Rhys will get his chance to shine in his own age-group when he plays for Wales Under 18 in the EuroHockey Youth Championships II in Cardiff (15-21 July). It will be great to see how he gets on.”
Bradshaw was one of a number of players blooded by Jones in the three match series in Poland last month and in Croatia. Given a handful of his Commonwealth Games squad were unavailable it gave Jones the chance to build some strength in depth.
“All of focus over the past 15 months has been on next year’s EuroHockey Championships and by earning promotion to Open Series 2 it will give us a higher grade of opposition in June or July next year to use to prepare for that tournament,” admitted Jones.
“This is an incredibly exciting time for Welsh hockey and the men, arguably one of the most successful in our history. The good thing is this side can only get better by playing against higher ranked teams.
“I’d give them 8.5 out of 10 for the past 15 months and the experience the players have gained will be vital as we build for the future. If we can hold onto our EuroHockey Championships status next year it would be an amazing achievement.”
The other goal scorers against the Croatians in Zagreb were Ben Francis and Owain Dolan Gray, who both scored a brace, and Bradshaw. Francis ended the week with six goals.