Barry Middleton celebrates at the hooter after Team GB secure a 1-1 draw with Spain to reach the semi-finals. Pic: Ady Kerry

Team GB will meet Holland in Thursday’s semi-final

It’s time for the ‘fun’ to begin, according to Great Britain head coach Jason Lee, after he witnessed his side reach the men’s hockey semi-finals for the first time since 1988 last night.

Team GB were made to sweat for a 1-1 draw by Spain inside a tense Riverbank Arena, but the point was enough to see them progress from Pool A in second place.

Tomorrow night Lee’s men will take on the Netherlands knowing victory will guarantee them a first Olympic medal since 1988.

He said: “It was a little bit nerve wracking but we just held out. I think our quality for 50 minutes was strong and perhaps we’d have liked to have taken the game away from Spain.

“The expectation of what we might achieve by not losing the game perhaps came into the minds of some players – 1988 is a long time since GB were last in the semi-final.

“Even though we’ve been planning for this, we knew it would be a bit of a fight to get there and we really did have to fight towards the end.

“I’m very proud of the players – we’ll just move on to the fun bit now.”