Hockey: Double strikes by Hall and Clement boost Britain

The Great Britain teams put up improved performances yesterday in the Four Nations Olympic Test tournament in the Athens Olympic Stadium with the men scoring a 4-2 victory against Belgium and the women sharing the points in a 2-2 draw with Australia.

Guildford's Danny Hall, with two goals inside the opening 13 minutes, gave Britain's men a splendid start against Belgium. Although Belgium equalised either side of the interval, Britain surged ahead again with goals from Barry Middleton and Scotland's Niall Stott.

The coach, Jason Lee, was greatly relieved after the disappointment of the opening game on Wednesday when they lost 3-2 to Spain. "We had good pace and desire," he said, "and with these attitudes we will always create opportunities."

Britain's women went behind to an early goal from Suzie Faulkner, but two goals from Scotland's Linda Clement put them in the lead before Peta Gallagher tied the game in the 55th minute. Their coach, Bobby Crutchley, said: "It was a much improved performance on yesterday's play and it was particularly pleasing to see us improve again in the second half."

FOUR NATIONS TOURNAMENT (Athens) Day Two: Men: Great Britain 4 Belgium 2. Women: Australia 2 Great Britain 2.