England beat Holland in final

By Rod Gilmour

England women denied Holland a weekend of ‘Total Hockey’ in the most dramatic fashion yesterday as they came back from the brink here to win their first European Championship title in 24 years after a barely believable shoot out success.

A day after Holland had routed Germany 6-1 to lift the men’s title, the odds were heavily in the women’s favour to land a ninth title in the last 12 editions of Europe’s showpiece event.

That much ran true for large swathes of the final as Danny Kerry’s side soaked up everything Holland threw at them until the third quarter when fearsome striker Caia van Maasakker scored two penalty corner goals in the space of three minutes.

But the world and Olympic champions hadn’t accounted for Maddie Hinch, Holcombe’s diminutive goalkeeper, who pulled off a dozen saves during normal time as England rallied from 2-0 down in the final quarter to score twice in two minutes and force the ensuing drama from the 23-metre line.

Holland also hadn’t accounted for Hinch’s red ‘playbook’. Before the shoot out she studied her notes, stuck her helmet back on and kept out two Dutch players as England scored their first three. Despite Georgie Twigg missing, Hinch thwarted another Oranje and jubilation ensued.

“I do my homework and I’m renowned for doing so,” said Hinch afterwards. “Under pressure, people tend to resort to do doing what they’ve done in the past and I felt really confident going into it.

“This is simply the best feeling I have ever experienced. I want to get used to this and win more events.”

They have already started the ball rolling. As an England and Great Britain side, they are now unbeaten in 15, while victory saw them to their second successive tournament by winning all of their games.

To defy them, all the world and Olympic champions had to do was maintain their superior possession percentage and keep their expansive passing game in the last quarter.

But England, who hadn’t beaten Holland in normal time since 2003 when stalwart captain Kate Richardson-Walsh scored the winner, somehow contrived to rock their usual stout defence, which had shipped only two goals in four previous games.

Roared on by a vociferous crowd of 5,000, Alex Danson had England’s first meaningful shot in the third quarter. They then won a precious penalty corner eight minutes from time. In the circle melee, Sophie Bray tapped home. Still there was danger, but Hinch, whose exploits saw England beat Holland in the 2013 semi-final, pulled off a miraculous double save with legs and arms both sprawling.

Two minutes later another penalty corner was realised – a routine which has proved their downfall in recent years – as Lily Owsley pounced from close range for the leveller.

With Rio qualification already assured in June after their World League success, and as the England girls danced a Copacabana jig for the second time in three months, Kerry, the coach, was left to reflect on a final quarter that seemingly went by in a blur.

“We were getting battered by Holland and weren’t really playing hockey with some cheap turn over,” he said. “But the last quarter I asked them if they could win, and they said 'yes'."

Holland are such masters in the game that Louis van Gaal, the Manchester United manager, employs two former hockey players as his backroom analysts.

Here, Holland’s own video analysts would have revelled in the statistics: 31 circle entries to England’s 11, 22 shots on goal to England’s 11. But that was before friends Bray and Owsley set up the thrilling denouement.

“We knew if we kept the score low, our forwards were playing well enough,” added Hinch. “We’re starting to get used to these situations and we now have no fear playing sides like the Dutch.”/Telegraph