Commonwealth Games: England reach hockey final after New Zealand shootout

2 years ago 19

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Hosts: Birmingham Dates: 28 July to 8 August
Coverage: Watch live on BBC TV with extra streams on BBC iPlayer, Red Button, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport mobile app; Listen on BBC Radio 5 Live and Sports Extra; live text and clips online.

England's women reached the hockey final at the Commonwealth Games after a thrilling shootout semi-final win against defending champions New Zealand.

Goalkeeper Maddie Hinch was once more England's shootout hero, saving all four of New Zealand's attempts.

Isabelle Petter and Hannah Martin both scored for the hosts to win 2-0 after the match finished 0-0.

England will face Australia or India as they seek a first Commonwealth title.

Australia and India will play their semi-final later on Friday, with the final at 15:00 BST on Sunday.

It was a frantic opening befitting a semi-final, with plenty of chances for both sides and Hinch's sharp goalkeeping maintaining a clean sheet for England.

Things slowed for both teams in a stop-start second quarter, before England's Sophie Hamilton spiced things up with a swift ball across goal.

But none of England's players could convert and the score remained 0-0 at half-time.

New Zealand looked more dominant as the second half began and the excitement rose in an end-to-end final 10 minutes.

Neither side could find a way through, meaning each had five chances to score from the 23-yard line in a shootout.

With the crowd already in full voice, Hinch showed the athletic and aggressive goalkeeping that helped her win Olympic gold with Great Britain in 2016.

England's Petter finally broke the deadlock and Martin's shootout slowly rolled across the line before the hosts ran on to celebrate, jumping up and down in a gleeful huddle.

Earlier on Friday, Wales' women finished in eighth place after losing 1-0 to South Africa in their seventh-place match.

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