Fekete happy with European campaign despite three straight defeats

Posted: Sunday 22nd January 2012 | 21:51

GREAT Britain coach Szilveszter Fekete insists he's a happy man despite his women's side crashing to a third straight defeat at the water polo European Championships.

UPBEAT: British coach Szilveszter Fekete is happy with his charges, despite three straight defeats at the European Championships in Eindhoven (British Swimming)

While, at first glance, three losses hardly appears perfect preparation for the London 2012 Olympics, it pays to dig a little deeper behind just the results.

Great Britain's women's team have made giant strides in recent years and this was their first appearance at this level in 15 years.

And there is no shame in defeats, none of which were comprehensive, to three sides expected to challenge for Olympic medals this summer, Hungary, Russia and the Netherlands.

Indeed, they pushed European champions Russia close and coped well with a partisan home crowd as Olympic champions the Netherlands won 12-6 in Eindhoven.

At half-time the scoreline was even deadlocked, before the superior class of Dutch told after the break, with their goalkeeper Ilse van der Meijden particularly impressive.

“When we came to these European Championships we hadn’t played any official matches since September 2011,” said Fekete, whose side will hope to record their first win in the seventh and eighth place play-off on Tuesday.

“And here we had to play title holders Russia, Olympic champions Netherlands and Hungary in our group – a very difficult task for our squad.

“So I’m happy because we led during the first half of the game.”