England through to semi-finals

England sealed their place in the semi-finals of the European Hockey Championships after a narrow 2-1 win over Scotland in Belgium.

Jason Lee’s side were defeated by Germany on Sunday, meaning victory on Tuesday was necessary to guarantee their place in the last four stage.

Hannah Macleod got England off to a decent start with the breakthrough goal in the 34th minute, finishing off at the back post after a shot from Susie Gilbert was deflected into her path.

The Scots, who had lost against both Germany and Spain, claimed a deserved equaliser when Nikki Kidd dispatched a penalty corner in the 49th minute, however.

Sam Quek put England ahead again four minutes later, converting from Laura Unsworth’s pass for her first international goal.

Yet, England were not out of the woods and were nearly pegged back again towards the close, but neither Holly Cram nor Nikki Kidd could finish from two yards out.

Lee said: “I feel sorry for Scotland, I thought they were unlucky not to get anything out of the game; they certainly had better chances than us.

“I think against Germany we had a poor result but played well and then today we were poor, but managed to take the three points and book ourselves a place in the semi-finals.”

Germany maintained their 100 per cent record with a 2-0 win against Spain to top Pool B, with England securing second on Tuesday.

Looking ahead to Thursday’s semi-final, Lee added: “We’ll start again really, we’ve had an up and down time in the group stages, but this is the exciting part of the tournament now.

“I’m optimistic we can bring it together for the final two games and physically I’m sure we’ll be in better shape by Thursday.”

England will play the Netherlands in their semi-final after they beat Belarus 7-0.