Britain top pool after Belgium draw at World League Final

Goals from Phil Roper, Alastair Brogdon and Alan Forsyth helped Great Britain remain unbeaten and top of Pool A after a 3-3 draw with Belgium at the World Hockey League Final.

Bobby Crutchley's side have had an impressive run so far but came up against a stubborn Belgian team who pegged the Brits back on three separate occasions.

Roper opened the scoring for Britain after seven minutes only to see his effort canceled out six minutes later by Thomas Briels.

Brogdon responded after 28 minutes and Forsyth added the third after Tanguy Cosyns had leveled things once more.

But Britain had to settle for a draw after Tom Boon's effort in the 42nd minute – though the result was enough to leave Crutchley's troops top of the pile in their pool.

That means a quarter final match with India awaits on Thursday and assistant coach David Ralph knows there are no easy games at the highest level.

“We were a little up and down today. We played well in some periods of the game but we didn’t stick to our game plan in others and that made it hard to play at the levels we are capable of,” he said.

“We lost control of the game for longer than we would like and as a result that allowed Belgium to dominate.  “They are a very good side and you always have to fight to get anything from games against them but perhaps if our execution of skills and game plans had been better we would have had more control.

“It’s pleasing to see us scoring goals. It’s something we work hard on in training so it’s nice to see it come to fruition in a tournament. We’d like to defend better however so that we’re not conceding quite as many.

“India are a tough side to play at any time. India in India is an even tougher prospect. The atmosphere and their fans make a big difference. It’ll be a great experience for some of our team and we’re relishing the prospect of playing against them.”