A young England side defeated Wales 56-28 on the second day of U21 Netball Europe, which followed their victory against Northern Ireland the day before.
After England’s Alicia Scholes got things started with the first centre pass of the game, Emilia Roscoe set the tempo by sinking three goals within the first two minutes.
Despite Wales’ Georgia Jenkins staying on point in the shooting circle, excellent defensive work from Funmi Fadoju and a number of errors from Wales meant England were able to accelerate away in the first 15 minutes.
The score at the end of the first quarter was 16-8 to England.
Wales came back onto court with purpose in the second quarter with Miquie Walker-Jones putting England’s shooters under pressure, however it wasn’t enough to deter the young stars.
Thanks to some excellent feeds from Hannah Williams into Berri Neil, England stood strong and went into the interval with a 26-16 lead.
England U21 Head Coach Karen Greig made a number of changes at the start of the second half, with Alice Harvey coming on as GK, Yasmin Roebuck on as C and Grace Mills as GS.
Wales refused to relent and at times started to close the gap between the two sides, however some clever maneuvering from England meant the third quarter came to a close with the score set at 37-21.
It was an energetic final 15 minutes, which saw Scholes come back onto court in place of Williams.
England continued to show great persistence despite Wales applying the defensive pressure and secured a 56-28 victory.
Funmi Fadoju said: “It was frantic at the start and they really made us work for it. Every single match has made us step up our game so we’ve really come on leaps and bounds as a team.”
After another jam-packed day of netball at the University of Worcester Arena, England will next face Scotland on day three of U21 Netball Europe on Sunday 6 October. The final day of the tournament will reveal the final placings.
Vice captain Alice Harvey said: “It feels really good to have the margins that we’ve had so far. It looks really positive going into tomorrow and we hope to have another good performance.”
England’s starting seven: Funmi Fadoju (GK), Stacey Tankoua (GD), Yasmin Roebuck (WD), Alicia Scholes (C), Hannah Williams (WA), Berri Neil (GA), Emilia Roscoe (GS).
Wales’ starting seven: Miquie Walker-Jones (GK), Carys Llewellyn (GD), Eleri Michael (WD), Shona O’Dwyer (C), Chloe Dyke (WA), Gwenan Williams (GA), Georgia Jenkins (GS).
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