By Lucas Ball
Holcombe’s Felix Tully was involved in the EuroHockey U21 Championship for England as they secured a fifth-placed finish in Terrassa, Spain.
Tully, a new arrival at Holcombe Park from Loughborough Students, was involved in all five matches as he took his junior international caps tally to 14.
England finished third in Pool B with two draws and a defeat, losing 3-2 to the Netherlands in their opener before a 1-1 draw with Ireland and 3-3 draw with Spain.
As a result, England ended up in Pool C with France, Ireland and Türkiye, the earlier result against Ireland from Pool B carrying over for a point, as did France’s 13-1 win over Turkey for three points.
Jon Bleby’s side then beat France 4-2 before finishing their campaign with a 9-0 win over Türkiye to finish top of Pool C and fifth overall.
Also in Terrassa, two former Holcombe players in Lottie Bingham and Izzy Shelley won bronze for England at the same event.
England finished second in Pool B behind Germany with two wins from three, with 8-1 and 5-0 victories over Austria and Ireland respectively sandwiching a 2-0 loss to the Germans.
Bingham, 18, scored in the opening 8-1 win and started four of England’s five tournament matches while Shelley started three out of five – both players were involved in all five matches.
Those results set up a semi-final tie with Netherlands which ended in a 7-0 defeat, with Simon Letchford’s side then recovering to beat Germany 1-0 in the third/fourth-place play-off to secure a bronze medal.
Congratulations, Lottie and Izzy!
Images:
Tully – Andy Smith
Shelley & Bingham – Tracey Shelley