Hockey World Cup: Wales beat France in shootout to secure first win
- Published
Hockey World Cup: 'Big Cat' Reynolds-Cotterill is Wales' hero
Wales won a match at the Hockey World Cup for the first time with a tense shootout victory over France.
Keeper Toby Reynolds-Cotterill was the hero as he saved four of France's five shootout attempts to secure the historic win.
The match had finished 2-2 at full time.
Wales will play a final game against Argentina on Saturday as they target a top-10 finish at their first men's World Cup.
Luke Hawker gave Wales a deserved lead on his 117th appearance for his country.
But France - two places above Wales in the world rankings - bounced back with two goals from Corentin Sellier.
Wales were not behind for long as Gareth Furlong converted a penalty corner to make it 2-2 at half-time.
Both sides pushed for a winner in the second half. France finished the strongest but Wales defended defiantly and took the game to a shootout.
Reynolds-Cotterill was also the star in the shootout win over Ireland that got Wales to a first men's World Cup, so it was fitting he also helped earn them their first victory at this level.
Wales, who are ranked 14th in the world, could finish as high as ninth at the World Cup if they beat Argentina.
Reynolds-Cotterill said he was just trying to "remain calm" during the shootout.
He added: "We'd done a bit of homework around what we thought they were going to do.
It definitely helps with that staying calm in those big situations. Because obviously there's a lot of pressure, but making sure you can remain calm and stay on task and whatever the result is, happens.
"You've just got to remain focused on the process of trying to save each one, step by step, shootout by shootout and hopefully you can save a couple and hopefully you can get a win.
"I'm not actually that experienced in international hockey. I'm quite a newbie still.
"I only made my debut about 18 months ago. So the coaching staff and all of Hockey Wales have put a lot of faith in me, so it feels nice to try to reward that a little bit on the biggest stage when it matters.
"It went our way today and it means a lot to have that faith repaid."