London 2012: Cullen cracker confirms third GB win on spin

by James Cunliffe
Thursday, August 2, 2012
9:28 PM

Olympic women’s hockey: Great Britain 3 Belgium 0

Crista Cullen bagged Britain’s third goal to seal a deserved 3-0 victory over Belgium in Pool A as their unbeaten march put them one point within qualification for the Olympic semi-finals.

Ashleigh Ball got the hosts up and running with her first goal of the Games at the midway point of a subdued first half, but her team came out strong after the interval and Laura Bartlett put some daylight between them and the Belgians.

Then came the late icing on the cake from the Roehampton-based Leicester defender, who finished as GB’s top goalscorer in Beijing four years ago.

The victory, their third in a row, put them top of their group, level on points with the Netherlands but ahead on goal difference and Danny Kerry’s girls can now secure their passage to the last four with a point against China on Saturday.

Britain have now scored 12 goals in three games – from eight different players - but they were boosted by Alex Danson’s selection after she recovered from an ankle injury sustained in Tuesday’s 5-3 win over South Korea.

The forward sent an early shot over the bar as the hosts started brightly but their efforts came to little until she turned provider and sent Nic White through on goal only for Belgian goalkeeper Aisling D’Hooghe to snuff out the danger.

The deadlock was eventually broken as the half ticked to its conclusion and it owed everything to the alertness of Chloe Rogers who reacted to Sarah Thomas’ deflected shot to pull back from the byline to the waiting Ball.

There was some renewed vigour after the interval and five minutes in Britain extended their advantage.

Hannah Macleod drove into the circle, drawing in two Belgian defenders before flicking to Bartlett and the Scottish striker looked to have turned the wrong way but cleverly slapped home with her reverse stick

Belgium had been fairly impotent in attack but GB number one Beth Storry still had to be on her mettle to keep them out as they bore down on her goal straight from the restart. It took an outstanding block to deny Lieselotte van Lindt, while she was happy to see a shot from Anouk Raes fizz wide of the post as the trailing side attempted a late fightback.

It was short-lived as 90 seconds from the end Cullen smashed in a penalty corner to edge them closer to the semi-finals.