THE road to Zimbabwe, where this summer's World Cup Qualifying Tournament will take place, is proving to be a bumpy one for the Irish women's hockey team who learnt over the weekend in Vancouver that there's much work still to be done.
Defeats in their opening three matches at the Five Nations' Tournament in Canada will have done little for team morale - especially when two of the defeats came at the hands of nations they must also face in Zimbabwe - but coach Terry Gregg saw enough in his team's performance against England yesterday to suggest that there are grounds for optimism.
After losing 1-0 to Canada on Friday, and 3-1 to the USA on Saturday, Ireland went on to produce their best display of the weekend against the English, top seeds in their World Cup qualifying pool. However, wasted scoring opportunities, particularly from short corners, once again cost the Irish dear in a match that saw them trail 3-0 after just 22 minutes.
Goals from Lucy Newcombe (from play), Tina Cullen and Jane Smith (both from short corners) effectively ended the game as a contest but the Irish, who ironically dominated play for most of the first half, produced some superb attacking hockey that was finally rewarded with a Sarah Kelleher penalty stroke a minute before half time.
The second half remained scoreless but Gregg was a much happier man than he had been after Saturday's defeat to the USA when he complained that the team lacked any confidence and "dribbled incessantly".
"We came here to learn from superior teams but we didn't expect the lessons to be so hard. It is especially disappointing as we played some of our best hockey for several years, albeit against weaker opposition, in Wales a fortnight ago," he said while praising the performances of Karen Humphreys, Rachael Kohler and Sarah Kelleher, who was outstanding.
The marked improvement against England will have encouraged Gregg and he will now hope to see the team finish the tournament on a high with a victory over Japan - also in Ireland's pool in Zimbabwe and who have also lost their three opening games in Vancouver.
