Great Britain

Great Britain kept alive their hopes of success at the women's Olympic qualifying tournament with a 1-0 victory over Ukraine in Auckland.


Canterbury forward Anna Bennett scrambled home the only goal of the game in the 53rd minute to secure Britain`s first win after three matches.

They stay fourth in Pool A but still have a chance of making the semi-finals - the top two from each group qualify for Athens automatically while four other teams face two play-off matches to decide the final place - as Germany were held to a surprise 1-1 draw by Ireland, who are also in contention for the last four.

University of Limerick`s Eimear Cregan scored in the 30th minute but Marion Rodewald equalised with a penalty corner on the stroke of half-time to leave Ireland coach Riet Kuper frustrated.

``I am definitely not happy with the result, I think we could have won,`` she said.

``But I am not disappointed with the players. Every person did their job and we created chances. Our midfield was superb and we didn`t give too much away defensively.``

The crunch final group matches come tomorrow when Britain face Ireland with both sides requiring a healthy victory, coupled with a positive result from the New Zealand v Germany encounter, to stand a chance of making the semi-finals.

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