Team GB's Olympic women's hockey team play Marlow men's first team in friendly

Tuesday night’s win came courtesy of two goals from Charlie Olley and one strike from Elliot Killington after Marlow had fallen behind early on.

It was an impressive fightback and Land made it clear how enjoyable an experience it was for the team to test themselves against Olympians.

“It is just a great experience for the whole team and I think everyone really enjoys playing against the girls because obviously they are very talented,” he said.

“It is really good for the whole club to come down and watch and people have clearly enjoyed the night.

“It was a bonus to get the win because they have beaten us the last two times we have played them so it’s nice to actually get the win this time.”

That talent showcased itself inside the first two minutes of the match as GB swept forward and after some intricate passing play a high shot gave them the lead.

However, Marlow hit back almost immediately and from a goalmouth scramble the ball broke loose to Killington who set himself and bundled it over the line.

That goal seemed to stir GB and they spent the remainder of the opening half camped in the Marlow half as the men struggled to keep up with their precise passing.

Marlow narrowly survived a succession of penalty corners which saw multiple attempts go just wide and Land admitted playing professional athletes had been a huge test of fitness.

He said: “It is completely different to what we play on Saturday. They are professional athletes who run for fun so it is much harder.

“They are so fast, pressure you so hard and so much quicker than what we are used to so if we can do that sort of thing in our games on Saturday it will go a long way towards getting us wins.”

The second half contrasted massively from the dominance that team GB had asserted in the first as they spent most of their time dealing with waves of Marlow attacks.

Despite their Olympic credentials and being the current EuroHockey champions GB fell behind to a well worked penalty corner routine that saw Olley power a low shot home.

Marlow, who play in the Premier Division Two, did not rest on their lead and an almost identical corner saw Olley secure the win with a couple of minutes remaining.

The performance was promising on multiple levels as Marlow’s defence, which has often been porous this season, stood firm and their attacks had genuine quality and invention to them.

Land explained: “We had a talk at half-time and said we need to focus on getting our passing right and taking two touches rather than three.

“That extra touch gives them a chance to put pressure on and playing quicker made our attacks more threatening.”

Both sets of players wore special kits as part of the Popies4Kits campaign that aims to raise money and support for the Royal British Legion.

The evening was also notable for the number of fans who turned out with many being youngsters who play their hockey for Marlow’s junior teams.

They had the chance to meet their heroes after the game as the women’s GB team stayed behind to sign shirts and take photographs.

Marlow will now look to take the form they showed on Tuesday into Saturday’s match against London Edwardians.