England off the mark at European Championships

ENGLAND women kicked off their EuroHockey campaign with a 4-0 victory over Russia in Amstelveen.

Goals from Helen Richardson, Jo Ellis and Nicola White gave England the advantage at half time before Sally Walton sealed the match in the second half.

Russia defended in numbers from the start but Richardson's stunning strike in the 11th minute put pay to their negative tactics.

The Russian defence stood strong for another twenty minutes until Bowdon Higtown forward Ellis notched England's second and minutes later 21-year old White opened her account.

England could have scored plenty more in the second half but with Russia seemingly unwilling to attack - they didn't breach the England penalty area once - it didn't matter that Sally Walton's penalty corner was their only other goal.

Next up for England is a showdown with world champions the Netherlands and head coach Danny Kerry knew the scoreline against Russia was of less importance than securing the win.

"It was good to get three points against a side that came here to defend," said Kerry.

"I thought we were patient throughout the game, although we were slightly naive up front and we could have scored more goals than we did.

"But it was a great team performance though and one to build on this week."