Britain beat New Zealand 3-0 in women’s hockey on Wednesday, with two late penalty goals securing victory in a tense, close-fought clash and a place in the Olympic final against the mighty Netherlands. 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…
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She answered that everyone was scratching their heads about how Great Britain repeatedly peaked so well at the Olympics.
Going behind seemed to spark New Zealand and in the second part of the quarter they consistently threatened the Great Britain circle.
“We probably just fell a little bit short against a little bit more experienced New Zealand side”.
Cullen, who won her 100th Great Britain cap earlier in the competition, departed for treatment to a cut, and she was soon followed by team-mate Twigg.
Kiwi goalkeeper Sally Rutherford comfortably saved the initial shot, but Danson was first to the rebound and her flick up over Rutherford found its way into goal despite Brooke Neal getting her stick to it.
In the final quarter, Helen Richardson-Walsh was fouled by Kayla Whitelock to be awarded a penalty which she duly converted to take the score to 2-0 in GB’s favour. With the clock ticking down, Danson struck home another penalty and Britain could celebrate reaching the Olympic final.
“I’ve got a few stitches, but I’ve no idea how many”.
“It is hard for an opposition team to cover everybody”.
“Since 1996 we’ve been in the second week of the Games, so we’ve benefitted from everything operating smoothly by the time we come in to the village, and the momentum of Team GB winning medals – a winning team for our athletes to join”.
The resignation of technical director Shane Sutton in April under discrimination allegations, which he denies, has not derailed Britain, with four gold and three silver medals from six events ahead of the final day of action in the Rio Velodrome.
“We lost a very tight semi-final to Argentina four years ago [at London 2012]”.
“To be going into a final: I can’t believe it”. 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. “And we just go back to square one”, she said.
“We’ve changed that and worked hard on that. They have some talented players and they will probably start as red-hot favourites but we like it that way”.
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“I am so proud of this team, but defensively we have been absolutely outstanding at this tournament, and I mean that as a whole unit”. We want to go all the way.
