Wales v Czech Republic - Prague
Report by Dave Cooper

Saturday 7th July

Wales                    4  Griffiths (2) Cooper, Evans
Czech Republic     1  Prochazka

Two goals from Beeston striker Dave Griffiths and a first international goal for Southgate’s Joel Evans helped Wales to a well earned victory over the Czech Republic on Saturday (1100). Ollie Cooper got the Welsh back on level terms after the break with a penalty corner after the side had gone in to the break 1:0 down from an excellent corner strike from the Czech no.5 Prochazka.

The first half was evenly matched, with neither side able to grab dominance on a lively pitch. The second half was a different matter with Wales benefiting from their sensible use of the bench in the first half. Huw Jones has probably never had so much space and possession in an international match and he put both to good use regularly setting the forwards away. With another victory over a higher ranked team, preparations for the Europeans in September continue to progress well.

Sunday 8th July

Wales                    2   Cooper, Stevens
Czech Republic     1 

This match, televised live on Czech television (Wales have now played 5 televised matches this year) was in sharp contrast to the game on Saturday. The Czechs had obviously studied the video from Saturday pretty well and had also recalled their number one keeper. They went ahead but Wales came back with another corner success for Ollie Cooper and went ahead through a corner rebound from 18 year old Huw Stevens (Canterbury) who had earned his first Senior international cap on Saturday along with Matt Grinham (Southgate). Goalkeeper Matt Simkin deputising for George Harris played extremely well throughout . His communication and shot stopping were of the highest order.

Manager Chris Marriott was very pleased with the weekends work. “We’ve come back twice this weekend against A division opposition this weekend and experience like that is invaluable. We have had a longer look at some players, and there is no doubt that we have significantly more depth than we did in 2005. Competition for places in the squad for the Europeans will be very tough and we will have to make some difficult decisions. We will have a look at every body in the squad over the next two events in the programme and will hopefully have a better idea of the final squad. Things seem to be going well at the moment and we are looking forward to the Celtic Cup in a couple of weeks time.”

Welsh squad for Prague

1. George Harris

2. Matt Simkin

3. Matt Grinham

4. Ed Bevan

5. Rhys Joyce (Captain)

6. Domenic Graham

7. Zak Jones

9. Ollie Cooper

11. Andy Cornick

13. Huw Jones

14. Pete Swainson

15. Andrew Seimann

16. David Griffiths

17. Ben Edge

18. Joel Evans

20. Huw Stevens

Manager

Head Coach

Coach

Video Coach

Physio 

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