Hard work on finishing opportunities paid off for England, according to coach David Ralph, as they qualified for the final four of the Hockey World League Semi-final.
A match against USA on Thursday was sealed with a convincing 4-1 victory over India, in South Africa, with four different players on the scoresheet.
A penalty stroke from Giselle Ansley opened the scoring, before Alex Danson scrambled home to double the England lead in the 13th minute.
Hannah Martin’s fine run was completed with a first-time finish from Susannah Townsend in the 42nd minute, and after Gurjit Kaur powered in a penalty corner with three minutes to play, Martin got on the scoresheet herself in the final minute.
“I’m delighted, when you get to this stage of the tournament it’s about winning the game. We’re delighted to win it,” said assistant coach David Ralph.
“It was a tough battle for us.
“Any time is a nice time to score, but the girls have been doing a lot of work in terms of trying to score goals and I think it came off today.
“We scored goals at crucial times, kept ourselves in front, and that made what was a tough battle slightly easier in terms of the scoreline.”
Goalscorers Danson and Townsend were also pleased with the win that qualifies England for the World League Finals, in New Zealand this November.
“It was a fantastic team performance, India are a very tight, very good side,” said Danson.
“We stuck to our tactics and we’re absolutely delighted to make it through to the semi-finals.
“Today was about being strong at the back, nice and quick through midfield and hitting them in the transition.
“We’re delighted to get the four goals and to progress through to the semi-finals was the main goal.”
With Townsend adding: “It was nice for me to get a goal, it’s always nice, but, to be honest, all of us put in a big shift today because getting through to the semi-finals was our aim, so we’re delighted.
“They don’t see me score a lot, and it’s one of my aims to score more, so I need to get into those areas and I’m very happy that I managed to get a goal for them today.”
Sportsbeat 2017