Kathryn Fudge struggles to deal with the attentions of an Austrian defender

Great Britain's women went down 30-20 to Austria in their first European Handball Championship qualifier.

The British women enjoyed some bright moments in the first half, but found themselves 18-12 down at the break.

Austria, playing at their home venue of Feldkirchen, stretched their lead to 29-15, before GB battled back.

They outscored their rivals 5-1 in the final 10 minutes. Six goals from Britt Goodwin made her GB's top scorer, while Holly Lam-Moores added four.

GB now return home to prepare for Saturday's clash with former world champions France at Crystal Palace in south London.

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"I was happy with our performance," said head coach Jesper Holmris.

"We have improved even since the Finland match three weeks ago.

"It was a tough game, but we played well and learned a lot. We need to be even more precise with our open chances because we missed too many. We ran out of ideas sometimes against such a tall defence."

Saturday's match is the second of six qualifying games, which conclude in May. The European Championships take place in Denmark and Norway in December 2010.

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