England’s opening match at the IKF European Korfball Championships resulted in a 22-14 defeat to Belgium on Saturday (22 October). 

Belgium took an early lead with goals from Patty Peeters and Jesse De Bremaeker inside the first two minutes. Five minutes then passed until another goal was scored, unfortunately for England it was another goal for Belgium.

England’s opening goal was scored by David Brooks on 7 minutes. At the end of the first quarter, England trailed 6-3.

Coach Buckland made two changes on 13 minutes, with Palfreyman and Bedford entering the game. The match came alive in the second quarter with both teams trading goals. At the half-time break Belgium had extended their lead to four goals (12-8).

Belgium stepped up their work rate in the second half and scored a number of open play goals while under tight pressure from England. Buckland made a number of substitutions in the third and fourth quarters, but the team weren’t able to close the gap.

Blake Palfreyman top scored for England with four goals.

England have been drawn in Group B along with Belgium, Poland, Czech Repubilc and Portugal. You can watch all the matches at the European championships live through worldkorfball.org.

England: Kathryn Goodridge, David Brooks, Otto Fabius, Ben King, Amy Turner, Helen West, Neala Brennan, Charlie Vogwill

Coach: Dave Buckland

Referee: Georg Berkel (GER)