England’s men and women hockey teams opened up their Investec London Cup campaigns with emphatic victories over Scotland and Wales respectively.
Scotland’s women were the first team to take to the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre but the honour of the opening goal went to South African Kathleen Taylor as she put her side ahead after 15 minutes.
And she added another goal late on as Scotland fell to a 2-0 defeat.
However there was better news for England’s women as they were next up, going on to beat Wales 8-0.
Alex Danson helped herself to two goals while Sophie Bray, Susannah Townsend, Laura Unsworth, Ellie Watton, Kate Richardson-Walsh and Giselle Ansley also got their names on the scoresheet.
Captain Richardson-Walsh said: “I don't remember the last time we scored eight goals. We're really pleased – it's been a tough few weeks so we were keen to show we have fight and we've done that."
And, after Ireland’s men had beaten South Africa 4-2, England’s men followed suit with a 6-0 victory over Scotland, Ashley Jackson kicking things off with a goal after two minutes.
Jackson added another on 67 minutes to round off the scoring, with Henry Weir, Mark Gleghorne, Simon Mantell and Phil Roper finding the net in between.
Captain Barry Middleton: “We’ve been looking at trying to score goals, so it was nice to get a few here. Some were scrappy goals, obviously they’re not great to watch but they’re the goals we’re looking to score because they win tournaments.”
© Sportsbeat 2014