Co-captain Ian Sloan praised his England team for adapting their approach to overcome Ireland and qualify for the EuroHockey Championships semi-finals.
Bobby Crutchley’s side, champions in 2009, were forced to come from behind but ran out 2-1 winners in their final Pool B encounter and they can now look forward to taking on the winners of Pool A - Belguim or the Netherlands - on Friday (8pm start) for a place in Sunday’s final.
Sloan also says that maintaining their discipline was another key component of England coming out on top.
“I thought we actually played well in the first half but at half time the message was simple – really, really calm in the head and make sure they get the cards, make sure we take advantage of that, and we did that in the third and fourth quarter,” said the 23-year-old.
“We really moved them around, because if you just played on the same channels and played to the numbers, then it’s really easy for them to make up for it.
“We really attacked the right baseline and that’s where we got our reward.”
In what was a winner-takes-all clash for semi-final qualification at Amsterdam’s Wagener Stadium, with Ireland grabbing the first goal of the game with their first attack as Conor Harte’s effort from a penalty corner was helped home by Matthew Nelson.
The two teams cancelled each other out in the second quarter, with David Hart producing a smart double-save to deny England from a penalty corner of their own.
But early in the third Liam Sanford fired the ball into the circle and David Goodfield finished with aplomb to tie things up.
Henry Weir passed up a glorious chance to give Crutchley’s troops the lead, but just before the final break they did get the winner as David Ames fed Sloan, who reached the byline before cutting the ball back for Sam Ward to sweep home.
Goalkeeper George Pinner denied Shane O’Donoghue from an Irish penalty corner as England progressed.
Sportsbeat 2017