England were still licking their wounds yesterday after going tantalisingly close to beating Germany in Thursday’s semi-finals in the Unibet EuroHockey Championships. Losing to Germany in a shoot-out had a sickeningly familiar ring to it, but the home side had every reason to feel proud of a magnificent performance.
“We ran them mighty close,” Bobby Crutchley, the head coach, said. “In so many other semis we’ve been well beaten, but now we know we belong in the top flight and have the confidence to take them on.”
The Olympic and European champions responded superbly after going behind to a Mark Gleghorne goal, equalising 15 seconds before the break. In a game filled with inventive skills and played at electrifying pace, Ashley Jackson cancelled out Germany’s second goal, converting a penalty stroke two minutes from time to send the contest to a shoot-out.
“It’s important not to wallow in defeat,” Nick Catlin said. “That’s the best semi-final I’ve ever been involved in — they don’t come much closer than that. We certainly turned up and played our part, but it went from the ecstasy of levelling at 2-2 to the agony of losing the shoot-out. Now we’re absolutely determined to beat Ireland and win the bronze medal.”