USK’S Wales women’s hockey captain Abi Welsford is set to become her country’s most capped international this evening, moving one clear of the legendary Anne Ellis.

But Welsford won’t be alone in reaching 139 caps today as vice-captain Leah Wilkinson, who also moved level with Ellis yesterday, is on course to break the record as well.

Wales, with a Phoebe Richards goal three minutes from time, beat Poland 1-0 in Cardiff last night to secure a place in the semi-finals of the EuroHockey Championship II.

Welsford and Wilkinson will go clear of Ellis today when they play in their team’s final group game against Belarus – the winner of the match tops the pool ahead of Friday’s semis.

The victory over the Poles makes it 15 games unbeaten for Welsford’s charges, but they left it late to see off the side ranked 18th in the world.

South Wales Argus:

The first half ended goalless and only two superb saves by Abergavenny’s Rose Thomas prevented Poland from taking the lead in the third quarter.

However, a stunning strike from Richards (pictured above) broke the deadlock late on and the hosts preserved their advantage in the closing stages.

Welsford said: “Going into the tournament, the plan was to always stick to our processes and keep going because something will happen eventually, and that was Phoebe scoring her goal.”

She added: “If we had written it beforehand, that might be what we did – qualify for the semi-finals with a game to spare – you can’t really ask for much more than that.

“But we know we’ve got an awful lot to work on if we want to do well in the semi-finals.”