Germany book place in EuroHockey Championships final with shootout win over England

Germany progressed to the EuroHockey Championships final with a 3-2 shootout win over hosts England ©EuroHockey Championships

Defending champions Germany clinched their place in the final of the EuroHockey Championships with a dramatic 3-2 shootout victory over hosts England at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London tonight.

The thrilling semi-final had finished 2-2 after normal time, leaving the dreaded shootout as the only method to separate the two evenly-matched teams.

After Mats Grambusch had cleverly stepped around England goalkeeper George Pinner before finding the net to give the Olympic champions a 3-2 lead, Sam Ward was denied by Germany's Nicolas Jacobi to ensure the favourites progressed to the final on Saturday (August 29).

They will face The Netherlands in a rematch of the gold medal contest at London 2012.

Lukas Windfeder looked to have sent the German side through to the final in a stunning late finish to the game as he converted a penalty corner three minutes from time to edge them 2-1 in front.

England responded valiantly, however, and they were awarded the perfect chance to level proceedings shortly after as they were given a penalty stroke for a foul on captain Barry Middleton.

Ashley Jackson kept his nerve as he stepped up to coolly slot home, despite a long wait owing to a German referral to the video referee, to square the contest at two-all.

Image title — The Netherlands secured their final berth with a narrow 1-0 win against Ireland in today's other semi-final ©Frank Uijlenbroek/EuroHockey Championships

The frenetic ending to the contest came after Mark Gleghorne had opened the scoring for England on the 20-minute mark as he redirected the ball beyond Jacobi following good work from Adam Dixon.

That setback seemed to spark the Germans into life and they equalised just before the end of the second quarter when Martin Zwicker fired his side level.

England will hope to salvage something from the event when they go up against Ireland for bronze.

The other semi-final proved a tepid affair as Olympic silver medallists The Netherlands scored early and held on for a narrow win over Ireland, currently ranked at number 14 in the world.

The only goal of a tense contest came after 12 minutes when Jeroen Hertzberger deftly touched the ball home after it had been sent into the scoring circle.

Following the favourites taking the lead, many expected there to be a flurry of goals but it never materialised as the Irish defence held firm, and they were unfortunate not to draw level in the second quarter when Mitch Darling’s effort was pushed on to the post by Dutch goalkeeper Jaap Stockmann.

France picked up their first win of the tournament as they beat Russia 4-2 to relegate the Russian team to the EuroHockey Nations Trophy ©EuroHockey Championships

The match continued in similar vein throughout with the Dutch largely on top, and Mink van der Weerden perhaps should have done better when his penalty corner, the first of the match, flew wide of the post.

The Irish challenge began to fade as the match veered towards its climax and The Netherlands were able to hold on to ensure they reached the tournament's showpiece contest.

In the opening classification match of the day, France picked up their first win of the tournament, beating Russia 4-2.

The result saw the Russians relegated to the second tier of European hockey, the EuroHockey Nations Trophy, with France needing to beat Spain, who suffered a 3-0 loss at the hands of Belgium in the other classification match, in their final game to avoid the same fate.