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GB rue penalty misses

  • 21/02/12
Football image

Captain Dave Clarke in action

Blind team held by France in the first of the weekends double

Great Britain 0-0 France
2pm, Saturday 4 February 2012
ThePoint4, Hereford

Tickets for Sunday's game, which kicks off at 10am, are just £3 for adults and £1.50 for concessions and available from thePoint4 reception team on 01432 376376.

Great Britain were left to rue two first half missed penalties, as they kicked off their first official 2012 Paralympic warm-up game with a 0-0 draw against France.

A crowd of over 250 were at ThePoint4 as both Great Britain stalwart, Dave Clarke, and Dan English failed to find the back of the net with their spot kicks.

The first ten minutes were cagey as the two sides felt their way into the game but it was Darren Harris who took the game by the horns and drove Great Britain forward. From then on they dominated the remainder of the First half. Harris, Clarke and English all had great chances to put Great Britain ahead before the break but Frederic Jannas, in the French goal, kept the strikers well at bay with two or three excellent saves.

France had little goalmouth action in the first half and frustrations boiled over resulting in David Labarre picking up the game's only yellow card.

Whatever Toussaint Akpweh, the French Manager, said to stir his troops at half time worked as they came out all guns blazing in the second half.

His masterstroke was to deploy his star man, Frederic Villeroux, in a more advanced position and he caused problems for the British defence.

However, they were well marshalled by Dan English and when on the odd occasion Villeroux managed to waltz his way through the backline, keeper Lewis Skyres, a half time substitute, was in fine form pulling off quality saves when required.

0-0 was probably a fair result when the final whistle blew as both teams cancelled each other out well for the majority of the game. But could there be a Great Britain victory on the cards for tomorrow's rematch?

Sunday's fixture starts at 10am and tickets are just £3 for adults and £1.50 for concessions and available from thePoint4 reception team on 01432 376376.

Great Britain
1 Lewis Skyers (GK) 2 Will Norman 3 Dan English 4 Robin Willians 5 Lee Brunton 6 Dave Clarke 12 Roy Turnham 13 Dan James (GK) 14 Darren Harris 16 Jon Heenan

France
12 Frederic Jannas (GK) 5 Hakim Arezki 6 Martin Baron 7 Abde Maya 8 David Labarre 9 Arnaud Ayax 10 Frederic Villeroux

Match Officials Paul Leversuch, Perry Gascoine, Dave Bryant, Jon Wilding

Attendance 257