Welsh women’s sport will be tested to the full in two ‘David v Goliath’ clashes against England on Friday.
First up it will be Leah Wilkinson’s Welsh hockey side in the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast and then Sophie Ingle’s footballers will face a top of the table World Cup qualifying clash at St Mary’s, Southampton.
Both English teams are ranked as the second best teams in the world and in both sports they are expected to go on and challenge for the title. But the Welsh women are closing the gap and are keen to make a statement.
In hockey, the 3-2 win over India in the opening game of the Gold Coast Games arguably ranks as the best result in the history of Welsh women’s hockey. Ranked No.10 in the world, the Indians came into the tournament as Asian Cup winners and ready to go for gold.
The victory by Wilkinson’s side raised some pretty influential eyebrows, with Great Britain’s Olympic gold medal winning skipper Kate Richardson-Walsh describing it as “an awesome result.” But can they take another scalp against England (10.30am start BST Friday morning)?
“Having gone 2-0 up they did well to change the momentum after the Indians came back to level. They will be riding high after that victory,” said Richardson-Walsh.
“India would absolutely have expected to have won and came into the tournament on the back of a win in the Asian Cup. All credit to Wales, who absolutely deserved their win, and they will now be looking forward to meeting England.”
On the football front, Wales will go into their Group A clash with Phil Neville’s ‘Lionesses’ with a one point advantage at the top of the table after three wins and a draw from four games to date. England have a game in hand and will be roared on by a 20-30,000 crowd.
That game is also live on BBC2 and Neville’s is expecting a 2m+ audience to watch a crucial game for both teams as they attempt to qualify for the World Cup finals in France next year. With two wins over Kazakhstan, a victory in Bosnia and a gutsy draw in Russia, Wales won’t be any push-overs.
They are also hoping to exploit a perceived weakness in new England manager Neville’s lack of experience of the women’s game. Ingle knows her side will need to be at its very best to beat an English side ranked 32 places above them, but she thinks there could be a few chinks in the home armour.
“We have watched them a little bit in the SheBelieves Cup and the way they are playing under their new manager. He has improved them in the transitions, they tend to get behind the ball more quickly are really pressurize teams,” said Ingle.
“I might mention to my players that they have a new manager, and there could be something we could use to our advantage. But it’s more about us and the way we will fight to get a result.
“It would be massive to get a result there, but if we don’t, then it’s not the end of the world, either. The group is still very open.”
Liverpool defender, Ingle, has been at the heart of a defence that has yet to concede a goal in four outings, but Wales will be hoping mum of two Helen Ward can add the fire power up front they need to overturn the 4-0 drubbing they had the last time they faced the auld enemy.
“It’s England v Wales, it’s next-door neighbours, so it’s going to be spicy, but it makes it more spicy as they are the second best team in the world. If they lost to us, then it would really hurt them,” said Ward.
“England were a good side under Mark Sampson. He took them to a good place and he didn’t leave for on-field reasons.
“He took them to the late stages of tournaments and got them scoring goals. So, that means Phil Neville has a lot to build on.
“I don’t know a great deal about him apart from his background with Manchester United, but I would think it’s difficult to just come into the women’s game when you haven’t been in it. He won’t know much about his own players, and he will know even less about us – that’s something we might be able to use to our advantage.”