Greece proceeded to 8-5 ahead with just eight minutes remaining and Asimaki scored her fifth goal on extra-man attack with a neat turn on the left post to lob into the right of the goal. That was 10-6 and victory for Great Britain was now out of reach. Christina Tsoukala, emulated Asimaki’s scoring skills, firing in four.

Great Britain worked tirelessly throughout and scored some excellent goals. Lisa Gibson and Ciara Gibson-Byrne scored twice each with the former’s two low-percentage successes.

Greece had won five of their last six encounters, all in FINA World League competition. Great Britain won a match in 2011.

Match 11: 12:10, Group C, GREAT BRITAIN 7 GREECE 13
Quarters: 1-1,2-2, 2-5, 2-5
Referees: Gideon Reemnet (NED), Anastasiya SKOVPINA (UZB).
Extra Man: GBR: ¼. GRE: 3/5
Pens: GBR: 1/1. GRE: 2/2
Teams:
GREAT
BRITAIN: Rosemary Morris, Chloe Wilcox (1), Fiona McCann, Ciara
Gibson-Byrne (2), Ainee Hoy, Claire Nixon, Lisa Gibson (2), Hazel
Musgrove, Peggy Etiebet, Angela Winstanley-Smith (1), Francesca Clayton
(1), Kathryn Fowler, Jade Smith. Head Coach: Paul Metz.
GREECE: Eleni
Kouvdou, Christina Tsoukala (4), Vasiliki Diamanopoulou, Ilektra Psouni
(1), Margarita Plevritou, Alkisti Avramidou (2), Alexandra Asimaki (5),
Antigoni Roumpesi, Christina Kotsia, Triantafyllia Manolioudaki (1),
Eleftheria Plevritou, Alkistis Benekou, Chrysoula Diamantopoulou. Head
Coach: Georgios Morfesis.

FLASH QUOTES:

Alexandra Asimaki (GRE):
“We were a little stressed at the start and Great Britain was stronger at the beginning. It’s logical that they tried to focus their strategy on stopping me. My job is to fight and to score. Today our tactics worked very well because we trained a lot and I could score five goals. Today it was a more open game than against the USA.”

Christina Tsoukala (GRE):
“All the teams have a good level. The key to win this match has been the fact that we had a lot of patience, even when both teams were very equal before halftime.”

Eleni Kouvdou:
“We have a very good centre (Asimaki) and all of the teams try to focus on her. We won this game because we are better in defence and had enough patience.”

Rosemary Morris (GBR):
“We didn´t do our best. We made a few mistakes, especially in the second half. We didn´t pay attention to the movement of our opponents. We must improve our defence.”

Paul Metz (GBR Head Coach):
“After our results in the Olympics last year, we had to change everything. We put a lot of young players in place.”