OLYMPICS LONDON 2012: Fair's fair as keeper admits he could have been better

By Phil Jones, Sportsbeat, London 2012

GREAT Britain men's hockey goalkeeper James Fair labelled his own performance at the tournament ‘inconsistent' after Team GB failed in their medal bid at London 2012.

The home side lost out on a bronze medal at the Riverbank Arena, beaten 3-1 by Australia in a match the Kookaburras dominated.

Fair was disappointed with his efforts in the first half as Australia took the lead through a Simon Orchard strike that and thinks he could have performed better over the duration of the tournament.

HONEST: Great Britian men's hockey goalkeeper James Fair believed he could have had a better London 2012 Olympics

"I thought we got off to a good start, and we showed a good recovery from the semi-final game," said Fair.

"But it was a pretty cheap first goal to let in that I should have saved, so I am pretty disappointed about that.

"My form's been pretty inconsistent really. I had hoped to play a bit better in the tournament. I don't think my performance here reflects my form over the past two or three years."

A busy man in the second half, Fair was put under pressure as Australia were awarded a succession of penalty corners from correct umpire referrals - but the goalkeeper insists he is happy to have video technology in the game.

And Fair believes that while Great Britain's form throughout the tournament has been unpredictable he is happier with his Olympic experience.

He said: "It's difficult to comment on the referrals, they obviously have some pretty good cameras up there in the box.

"Sometimes they go your way, sometimes they don't, but there were no complaints from us today. I would rather have them than not have them.

"It's been pretty up and down as a team. We've got to look at ourselves individually, and as a group and I think it shows the strength in the team that we have, with a fourth-place performance.

"I think our aim was to get to the semi-finals, we know we didn't produce a performance against Holland in the semis.

"We just wanted to put in a performance we could be proud of and I think we can look at today's game and say we did that.

© Sportsbeat 2012