They secured their latest final berth earlier on Wednesday via a nervy 4-3 penalty shoot-out victory over Germany that followed a 1-1 tie in normal time.
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The disappointment on the faces of the Kiwi women, who are trying to win their first Olympic medal in the sport, was huge as they left the field. But you can’t forget what’s got us here. Disappointing, wasn’t disciplined enough. With the clock ticking down, Danson struck home another penalty and Britain could celebrate reaching the Olympic final. “And we just go back to square one”, she said. They held on, however, for their third straight win, which confirmed their quarter-final place.
The early stages of the second quarter continued in the same vein as the first, before Great Britain converted their second penalty corner of the match to take the lead.
New Zealand were first to threaten, Elizabeth Thompson firing just wide from a penalty corner and Petrea Webster shooting wide. Cullen, one of several players who were involved in the London 2012 campaign when Britain toppled New Zealand 3-1 to take bronze, saw a penalty corner shot well saved but Danson reacted sharply and forced home the rebound.
Richardson-Walsh was off the field receiving treatment for an injury, leaving Danson to take the penalty stroke and find the net to the keeper’s right in fine style. Though reaching the final is uncharted water for Britain, they knew what to do in every phase of the game – how to shut out the risky Kiwi attackers and how to capitalise on attacking territory when opportunity allowed.
Twigg fell to the ground after the ball deflected off a New Zealand stick and caught her flush in the face, and she left the pitch for further assessment. Some lovely approach play from Lily Owsley nearly set up Bray but she couldn’t quite get a touch on the pass. Owsley was starting to cause the Blacksticks real problems and linked well with Helen Richardson-Walsh to earn Great Britain a penalty corner.
But some good runs from the New Zealanders showed they were still in the game, with Olivia Merry missing a good chance as she picked up the ball in the circle and mis-fired. If the Dutch have learnt anything from last night’s semi-final it is that Team GB, under the captaincy of Kate Richardson-Walsh, will not be… “That’s what these Olympics are all about, grinding out wins”, she said. You have them at the back of your mind but actually this tournament has been very much about us and the opposition and taking it one game at a time.
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“We made it to the final now and the only thing we are here for is the gold medal”. The girls executed the game plan superbly today. “It’s all set up for the ideal final”.
