Tuesday 16 June 2015 14:53, UK
A brace from Sophie Bray guided Great Britain to a 2-0 win over China in their final Pool A game and maintained their 100% record at the Women’s Hockey World League in Valencia.
Great Britain will now face the fourth placed side in Pool B in the quarter-finals of the tournament which will be either South Africa or Uruguay.
Unsurprisingly Britain were quickest out of the traps playing with clear confidence following their fine start to the campaign in Valencia and within 10 minutes they had taken the lead.
Kate Richardson-Walsh found Alex Danson out wide with a pinpoint pass who sped away from her marker to reach the baseline before crossing to Sophie Bray who finished calmly lifting the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper.
China improved during the second quarter despite registering two green cards in just four minutes but they went on to have the better of the play enjoying possession of the ball but they couldn’t make this count and Britain held their lead at the halfway stage.
The third quarter was again tightly contested but ultimately neither side was able to find the net, Danson went close twice for Great Britain but it remained 1-0 going into the last 15 minutes with all to play.
China pressed hard from the off and a foul from Laura Unsworth gave them the chance to draw level however Maddie Hinch pulled off a fine low save to kick the ball wide. Moments later it was Giselle Ansley who kept Britain in the lead clearing a flicked effort off the line. Despite the panic Britain settled soon after and held the ball well to take the sting out of China’s game.
With just three minutes remaining Great Britain finally gave themselves some breathing space, the ball breaking to Bray who kept her cool to open the angle and slot the ball once more past the Chinese goalkeeper to wrap up the win and seal their progression to the next stage as pool winners.
