A father-son partnership from Hartley have helped England under-21s’ shore fishing team to international bronze.

Team manager Mark Slater led a five-strong squad which also included James Slater, while Gravesend’s Mark Preston was his assistant.

At the competition, held as part of the FIPS-M international series event in Domburg, The Netherlands, they came up against eight nations and only finished behind winners Italy and Spain.

They set off a week before the championship event and immediately fished one of the proposed venues after a five-hour van journey.

But, after seven full days of scouting out the published venues, the team captain attended the first championship meeting, where he was advised there was now a change to the venues and some that had been practised on had been withdrawn from the programme.

England were seventh overall after the first two days before they went into another gear and got a well-deserved third-day win.

Due to rain, none of the hour boards were marked up, though, and at the end of the final match the team had no idea how they had fared. That led to a nail-biting three hours until results were finalised - but England’s patience paid off with bronze.

England squad: James Slater (Hartley), Tom Ryder (Worthing), Owen Strange (Portsmouth), Samuel James (Portsmouth), Danny Parker (Liverpool).