Paris — Lily Owsley believes that Team GB women’s physicality over a gruelling Olympic hockey tournament can play into their hands after her side’s below par opening loss to Spain on Sunday.
Spain were deserved 2-1 winners as they prevailed over a British side for the first time in five previous Olympic clashes.
For the Tokyo bronze medallists, defeat was a bitter blow against a side which joyfully bounced into the atriums of Pitch 2 here in Paris.
“We can take a lot of positives to how we played,” said Owsley. “We created a lot of opportunities, the bit that let us down was the one that really matters in hockey and that was putting the ball into the goal.
“We are going to have to look at the intricate details of how to get the ball over the line. It’s a long tournament, we have five group games and we have to take the positives from that game, that we are in form. But it’s hard to hide away from the fact that this was a huge game.
“That game mattered and it’s something we can’t shy away from and now we need to beat one of the big teams. We are capable of doing that but we have made it harder for ourselves.”
With Great Britain’s full-time programme and Bisham set up, it means that energy-sapping tournament play has played into their hands over a fortnight’s work at recent Olympics. And Owsley says it can work for them again, if they can work out better circle penetration and be more clinical in the set piece.
“The Olympics has always been successful for us and that is testament to our physical capabilities,” she added. “It’s the only tournament where you play eight games over 13 days and so when it comes to it, a sixth game (a quarter-final and the most important game of the whole tournament) we have been quite physically dominant at that stage.
“It’s all about momentum and you snowball but this was a bit of knock for us today. It’s not the start we wanted.
“Spain create a lot of chaos and I enjoy playing them. You never know what they will throw at you. They play in a very unconventional way and I love playing that style.
“That’s over now and the likelihood is that we might not face Spain again and so we have to focus on what’s next.”
Giselle Ansley said: “We had so many chances and just needed a bit more quality on them at the end of the day and it could have been a different story.”
Meawhile, Lola Riera, one of Spain’s scorers, said: “We knew from the beginning that it was going to be tough, since it is the Olympic Games and it was the first match. I think we knew really well what we had to do.
“These matches are won mainly on defence. We are showing that we create a lot of danger with every ball we catch on the attack.”
