England win women's EuroHockey Championships title with dramatic shootout win over The Netherlands

England found themselves 2-0 down before launching a stunning comeback to take the title by virtue of a shootout ©EuroHockey Championships

Hosts England secured their second women’s EuroHockey Championships title with a 3-1 shootout victory over Olympic champions The Netherlands in a dramatic final which brought the event to a thrilling close here today.

The Netherlands, bronze medallists in 2013, surged into a 2-0 lead in the third quarter thanks to a penalty corner double from Caia van Maasakker.

England, who had not lifted the title since 1997, however, fought back valiantly as Sophie Bray and Lily Owsley equalised to send the contest into a shootout.

After Helen Richardson-Walsh, Alex Danson and Sophie Bray had all found the net, England goalkeeper Maddie Finch, who put in a superb display throughout, crucially denied Eva de Goede to secure a pulsating triumph for the home side.

The result saw England bounce back from their shootout defeat to Germany in 2013 in Boom, Belgium, as the crowd inside the venue produced an atmosphere that conjured up memories of London 2012.

Earlier in the bronze medal match, Germany made light work of Spain as a dominant first half helped them to a comfortable 5-1 success.

Semi-final hero Lily Owsley completed England's comeback from 2-0 down ©Getty Images

The gold medal contest started in tense fashion, with The Netherlands looking the most likely of opening the scoring.

Ginella Zerbo was inches away from giving the London 2012 gold medallists the lead as she picked up the ball in the scoring circle but poked her effort just wide of the right-hand post.

Hinch was fast becoming the star of the show was she twice denied the Dutch from penalty corners, the second a superb diving save that kept the match goalless.

The chances kept coming from the edge of the scoring circle for The Netherlands but the English defence, which appeared somewhat chaotic at times, held firm as the tantalisingly-poised game went into the break all-square.

The second half however sparked into life as finally the Dutch pressure told when Van Maasakker swept the ball into the corner of the net from a penalty corner five minutes from the end of the third period.

Worringly for the English defence, the 26-year-old was finding her range and she netted her team’s second shortly after in almost a carbon copy of the first, drag-flicking home to double their advantage.

The home side lifted the raucous crowd with eight minutes to go, though, as a well-worked penalty corner routine was rounded off by Bray’s scrambled finish, which halved the deficit to 2-1.

Charlotte Stepenhorst hit a hat-trick to help guide Germany to a 5-1 victory over Spain and win the bronze medal ©EuroHockey Championships

The drama was not finished there though as England levelled proceedings when semi-final hero Owsley collected a superb penalty corner pass from captain Kate Richardson-Walsh to convert at the back post.

The stirring comeback ensured the winners of the EuroHockey Championships would be decided on a shootout and it was England who kept their nerve thanks largely to Finch, who saved three of the four Dutch attempts.

In the classification round, Belgium captain Lieselotte van Lindt marked her final appearance for her country with the opening goal as they beat Italy 4-3, a result which relegates the Italians to the second tier of European Hockey.

Scotland managed to avoid the same fate as they condemned Poland to the EuroHockey Nations Trophy, claiming a 2-0 victory, in which Nikki Kidd and Vikki Bunce both found the net.

While the result guaranteed Scotland’s place in the 2017 EuroHockey Championships, the defeat saw Poland relegated.

India’s women have guaranteed themselves a spot at Rio 2016 as England’s semi-final victory over Spain ensured their participation at next year’s Olympic Games.