Helen Richardson-Walsh: ‘We were confident it would be our night’

Goals also by Georgie Twigg and Helen Richardson-Walsh gave Britain a 3-0 interval lead, with the London 2012 bronze medallists in clinical form.

Whatever happens, Britain’s women have already confirmed their best performance in Olympic hockey history.

Great Britain’s women’s hockey team guaranteed themselves a shot at a medal after breezing past Spain and into another Olympic semi-final.

Team GB will face the Netherlands in Friday’s final. Britain’s women will want to emulate the most famous hockey team their nation has seen by winning gold, albeit against a Dutch side seeking a hat-trick of Olympic titles.

“They kept on getting a few chances but never scored and that kind of actually helped us build the confidence”.

Scoring chances were rare in a tight third quarter until New Zealand, still pushing Britain back, created two decent opportunities – with Olivia Merry lashing wide before GB defender Susannah Townsley cleared off her own line.

Cullen closed the quarter by missing from a Britain penalty corner at the other end.

The goal undoubtedly settled British nerves, yet New Zealand continued to prove risky on the counter-attack, and goalkeeper Maddie Hinch had to be alert to ensure the interval lead was preserved.

They blocked another penalty corner early in the third and Cullen needed stitches on the sidelines after taking a blow.

New Zealand’s hopes of an equaliser were destroyed early in the fourth quarter.

Rather than sit back on their lead, the Brits continued to push forward, and they earned their just rewards two minutes into the final period, as Danson played in Richardson-Walsh who was brought down with the goal at her mercy for a penalty stroke. With the clock ticking down, Danson struck home another penalty and Britain could celebrate reaching the Olympic final.

Always the first with your local news. “I am very, very proud of them all”. “We have to play better than this game today”.

“This is something that GB hockey, in terms of the 31 of us who represent this team and every single player who’s put on a GB shirt over the last number of years, has been working towards”, she said afterwards.

“Our expectation coming here was a gold medal”.

“Holland have probably got a bit of a point to prove after the Europeans and I think the final will be a tight, cagey affair”.

“But it’s been one game at a time – momentum, recovery, play and implement the tactics”. You get the sense something special is happening. We won’t change anything about how we prepare. We were concentrating so hard for the full 60 minutes. Defensively, we’ve been outstanding at this tournament, as a whole unit.

Britain went into the game as firm favourites, given that Spain only made the last eight after finishing fourth in their pool, and they exerted intense early pressure.