Men's hockey team reach quarters with women aiming to follow suit

Hockey 29 Jul 21

Sam Ward’s late brace preserved Team GB’s men a precious 2-2 Olympic hockey draw with Netherlands in Tokyo, seeing them through to the quarter-finals.

Danny Kerry's side were unable to contain the European champions in the early stages and first-half goals from Thierry Brinkman and Jip Janssen left them two goals down.

But attacking talisman Ward bagged a late brace inside five minutes to complete the turnaround and book Team GB a place in the last eight.

It was an especially impressive result given the 5-1 defeat to Germany in the previous outing.

"We rode the pressure first half, the Dutch are a great side and they played some good hockey. In the end there, fitness shone through," said Ward.

"It shows that some days you can just grind out the work rate. We're a bunch of very fit blokes and that's what shone through at the end.

"Any result when you come back so late and on the back of a loss is massive. It was pretty tough to lose 5-1 to the Germans but we managed to go out there, put a performance in and do ourselves proud.

"It's the springboard we need to now push on."

Kerry's men grew into the game and earned three corners in succession but found themselves behind when Brinkman finished off a flowing move from a tight angle.

The odds looked steep when Janssen drag flicked home two minutes into the second half, with Ward unable to get a stick on his goalbound shot standing on the right-hand post.

Then began the response and Ward, who finished joint top scorer at the recent European Championships, halved the deficit when he deflected home Tom Sorsby's cross-shot.

Five minutes later, he drag flicked in a stunning equaliser before Team GB held off a late charge.

"We're building into a tournament, we've had two good results and a bit of a thumping," said Ward, who has now scored in three of his team's four group outings.

"Sometimes you need a bit of a slap in the face, we got what we deserved and probably needed that day. I'm proud of all the lads, they've been incredible.

"Tournament hockey's about momentum, if we can build on that tomorrow anything can happen."

Team GB went Double Dutch as the women's hockey side also faced off against the Netherlands in a rematch of the 2016 Olympic final in Rio at the Oi Hockey Stadium.

On that occasion, British goalkeeper Maddie Hinch was the penalty shoot-out hero and she was in fine form once again for the reigning Olympic champions.

Hinch stood firm in the face of a number of penalty corners fired her way from the 2016 silver medallists.

But eventually the pressure told and Frederique Matla converted a penalty stroke after a foul from Team GB captain Hollie Pearne-Webb in the first quarter.

The decision was reviewed by the Brits but the call stood and it proved costly as Matla's effort was the only goal of the game, handing Team GB a 1-0 defeat.

The title defence is still alive, however, as Mark Hager's side's are in a good position to go through as one of the three qualifying teams from Pool A as they sit third.

The side recovered from losing their opener 2-1 to Germany with 4-1 wins over South Africa and India.

Team GB are next in action against Ireland on Saturday and a point would confirm their progression, but they could have their place in the quarter-finals secured as soon as tomorrow if other results go their way.

Skipper Pearne-Webb said: "Overall, we've played four games so far and 75% of the time we’ve been really pleased with how we’ve played. I think, as we all know, games are won or lost at either end and the finer details on the day are where we need to sharpen up.

"We’ve been extremely disappointed to lose, we feel, almost six points [today and against Germany].

"In the first quarter we weren’t at it, but for the rest of the three quarters we certainly matched them.

"They’re the world’s number one side for a reason and are a very good side, but we had as many opportunities as them to come out with a point.

"I’m disappointed that we’ve missed out of those six points, but equally we can take huge amounts of confidence going into our next game against Ireland on Saturday.”

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