By Lucas Ball
It was a story of two Holcombe players as England defeated Germany 1-0 in yesterday afternoon’s men’s FIH Pro League match to follow-up on the earlier 4-3 win in the women’s competition.
Nick Bandurak scored the winning goal in the 12th minute from a David Goodfield cross, deflecting in from close range.
Germany put England under pressure for large spells and Ollie Payne was forced into a number of excellent saves throughout the encounter, winning player of the match as he captained England for the first time.
After the match, Payne told England Hockey’s website: “I’m super happy. This [winning Player of the Match] doesn’t happen very often, so I will enjoy this one.
“Germany are a good side but our lads put in one hell of a shift. In the second half it felt like wave after wave of pressure.”
The second match between England and Germany takes place at 2:30pm this afternoon.