GREAT BRITAIN head coach James Ellis has hailed his Non-League players for their ‘life-changing' performances in reaching a second successive World University Games final in Kazan last week.
Ellis and Kidderminster player-coach Steve Guinan steered the student side, comprising players from the Conference down to the Midland Combination, past a Russian team worth £12m and watched by national boss Fabio Capello in last Sunday's semi-final in the Rubin Stadium.
The British boys fought back from a goal down and a man down to force extra-time with a header from Spennymoor Town's Micky Rae.
They scored all five penalties in a 5-3 shoot-out win, but couldn't beat France in last Tuesday's final to bring home gold.
Again, Rae scored twice as Team GBR recovered from 2-0 down to force extra-time. But a French winner after Shortwood United's Jake Parrott was sent off for two yellow cards meant they had to settle for silver – as was the case in China two years ago.
Ex-Nuneaton and Kettering coach Ellis, who plans to stand down after three tournaments at the helm, told The NLP: “You get a little bit disappointed but then try to put it into perspective.
“If someone had offered me silver when we flew out there on June 28, of course I'd have taken it.
“All the teams we played posed a great test because they were all culturally very different.
“The French team we played in the final weren't a patch on the Russians, but it was just a game too far for some of the lads although I can't say enough about all of them, with their talent, belief and spirit.”
It was the win over the hosts last Sunday week that will live longest in the memory, according to 35-year-old Ellis, who was once the youngest manager in Non-League when he took over Loughborough Dynamo aged 23.
“Russia had two full internationals, several Under-21 caps and lads who have played Champions League football,” he said.
“For Capello to be there with the head of the Russian FA, and for TV reporters be asking me how we managed to get British boys playing with such style and spirit, because they can't get it, was something else.
“I turned on the TV the following morning and their Match of the Day style programme had two big players and the manager of Torpedo Moscow dissecting the game. It was an unbelievable 24 hours that should stick with the lads for the rest of their lives.
“These are players from clubs like Littleton, like Joe Lolley, up to Luke Graham (Hereford) and Alex Dyer (Welling) in the Conference. It's a fantastic story that unfortunately, not too many people other than Non-League Paper readers will know about in this country.”
