One win and one loss for England Powerchair team

England’s Powerchair team continued their FIFPA World Championship campaign with a win over Australia and a defeat to France on Tuesday.

With the competition’s round-robin stage continuing at the Quaycentre in Sydney’s Olympic Park, Colin Gordon’s team were looking to build on their impressive start which has seen victories over Argentina, Republic of Ireland and Denmark.

But they suffered their first setback of the tournament when faced with old rivals France in their first game of the day.

The Para Lions paid the price for a poor start to the game, with France taking the lead after just two minutes, when captain Mohamed Ghelami's long-range effort picked out the corner of the goal.

And Ghelami doubled their advantage just two minutes later when his attempt from just inside the area deflected off an England defender and crept over the goal line.

Para Lions head coach Gordon responded with a substitution by introducing Ed Common in place of Dan McLellan as England looked to find a way back into the game and the match levelled out as they started to pose questions of the French.

But with a strong back line in place, the second half saw France consolidate their lead and keep England at bay, before Ghelami completed his hat-trick in the last minute when Chris Gordon's clearance was closed down by the Frenchman and diverted home to seal a comprehensive win.

That result didn’t hit England’s confidence too much though, as they came back out later to register an impressive 6-1 win over the host nation.

Jon Bolding opened the scoring in the eighth minute from the penalty spot, after contact had been made in the box as Bradley Bates fired in a shot at goal.

And they doubled the lead after eleven minutes, following a well-worked move started by Bolding which saw him trade passes with Marcus Harrison before working the ball back to out to Harrison at the far post where he finished from close range.

The Bolding-Harrison axis paid dividends again five minutes later, when the captain picked out Harrison in the box where he timed his movement to perfection to finish off the move. 

Four minutes into the second half, the Aussies reduced the arrears when Abdullah Karim struck home an angled shot to make it 3-1.

It took only seconds for England to restore the three-goal advantage though, as Bolding again found Harrison in the area where he knocked home to complete his treble.

Ed Common then notched his second of the tournament after a controlled shot following a diagonal pass from Gordon found him on the left.

There was another to follow in quick succession, as Bolding shot home from distance to make it 6-1.

England will face USA (4am BST) and Uruguay (7am BST) on Wednesday, before they play their final round game against Northern Ireland on Thursday (5.10am BST)

England starting line-up v France: 7 Chris Gordon, 8 Jon Bolding (c), 9 Marcus Harrison, 10 Dan McLellan

Substitutes: 4 Ed Common for McLellan 6, 10 Dan McLellan for Common 32, 5 Dave Lewis for McLellan 39

Substitutes not used: 11 Tyler Reece, 19 Bradley Bates

England starting line-up v Australia: 7 Chris Gordon, 8 Jon Bolding (c), 9 Marcus Harrison, 19 Bradley Bates

Substitutes: 10 Dan McLellan for Bates 12, 11 Tyler Reeve for Gordon 26, 4 Ed Common for Harrison 29, 5 Dave Lewis for McLellan 31, 8 Bradley Bates for Bolding 34

Goalscorers: Jon Bolding 8 (p), 31 Marcus Harrison 11, 16, 25, Ed Common 30