England staged a phenomenal comeback during the Masters World Championships to bag a well-earned bronze medal.
A talented team made up of Ben Bray, Billy Reynolds, Darran Bickerton and Matt Hall represented the nation during the event on the Plovdiv Rowing Course in Bulgaria, with Mark Harper in charge after manager Joe Roberts was unable to make the trip.
Day one proved to be a very difficult encounter, with England finishing well down the pecking order in eighth spot.
A medal seemed a million miles away at that point, but boss Mark Harper revealed that intense conversations were had afterwards to try and make day two more successful.
“We sat down on Saturday night and had a big team meeting. We knew we had to catch carp, as we couldn’t compete with Italy or Hungary when it came to carassio. By being more positive with feeding, using bigger baits and a different groundbait mix on the pole, we gave ourselves that chance of carp.”
THE BEST FISHING POLES MAKE FISHING MUCH EASIER, CHECK OUT OUR BUYER'S GUIDE.
It was a ploy that worked a treat with both Darran and Matt winning their sections. Billy registered a seventh and while Ben was well down in his section, word was travelling around that England may have done the unthinkable and bagged a medal.
It was soon confirmed, with England edging out Slovenia by one point to bag bronze.
Italy sealed gold with 29 points, while Hungary were silver medallists with 35 points.
Mark Harper was understandably beaming with pride, and he said: “They are a fantastic set of anglers that generated a great team atmosphere and I couldn’t be prouder of them.
“When you consider the company we were in, where a lot of the anglers are still fishing the main Float World Champs for their countries, to win a medal is just brilliant.”
WANT TO START MATCH FISHING? READ OUR EXPERT GUIDE FOR ALL THE TIPS AND TACKLE YOU NEED!
This page is a free example of the amazing content Angling Times Members get every single week. Becoming an Angling Times Member gives you access to award-winning magazine content, member rewards, our back issue archives, bonus content and more! Join our fishing community and find out more today!