Great Britain are now gunning to end their Hockey Champions Trophy campaign on a high, according to defender Michael Hoare, after coming from behind to book their place in the bronze medal match with a dramatic 3-3 draw against Belgium.
Bobby Crutchley’s side had been behind after just 35 seconds in London through Thomas Briels’ goal and although Barry Middleton equalised in the second period, a double from Loick Luypaert meant GB went into the final four minutes 3-1 down.
Goalkeeper George Pinner was sacrificed in favour of another outfield player and it paid off as David Ames scored his first international goal for GB before Middleton equalised with just over a minute on the clock.
The home side went into the contest knowing victory would have seen them compete in the gold medal match, with defeat condemning them to the fifth-sixth play-off.
Instead, their late comeback secured a bronze medal clash with Germany at 6pm on Friday and Hoare is targeting success, despite the disappointment of being unable to beat Belgium to earn a shot at gold.
“We’re really frustrated,” admitted Hoare. “You could say we’re pleased to come back from 3-1 down with four minutes left, we even had a chance to win it at the end, but in big games like this you can’t afford to concede goals.
“If you score three goals in a game you should win it. That’s the disappointing thing for me – we gave them poor goals at the start and end of the first half and that wasn’t good enough.
“I’m sure we’ll take positives from it but this is a missed opportunity and I don’t see it any other way. We’re all disappointed and I don’t think getting a draw makes up for that. “We’ll come back and be ready to try and get the bronze medal. We’ll take what was good and we’ll work on the things we need to improve.
“[Germany] are a strong side but we know we can beat anyone on our day and we’ll be determined to do that.”
The gold medal match will see Australia square off against India, while Korea and Belgium contest the fifth-sixth play-off – both games also taking place on Friday. Sportsbeat 2016