England’s men will face hosts Germany in the EuroHockey semi-finals after twice coming back from a goal behind to win 4-3 against Spain.
The two teams went into their final pool game knowing a semi-final spot was at stake having both beaten Austria and lost to Olympic champions Belgium.
England duly followed Belgium into the last four after a flurry of five goals in five minutes during the contest.
There were three goals in the 40th minute alone in Monchengladbach.
Spain lost 5-1 to Belgium on Monday but took the lead against England through Xavier Gispert after 12 minutes following their first penalty corner.
England stood firm after a flurry of penalty corners for Spain at the start of the second quarter and they drew level just before half-time, with Nick Bandurak converting a penalty stroke.
Jose Basterra restored Spain’s lead after 35 minutes but England, who beat Austria 3-0 on Monday, hit back two minutes later through James Gall’s diving deflection following a penalty corner variation.
Sam Ward sneaked in a field goal to put England in front for the first time and although Spain immediately equalised through a Marc Miralles penalty, Tom Sorby’s deflection from a penalty corner gave England a 4-3 lead.
Goalkeeper Ollie Payne made a fine save in the final quarter as his defence withstood Spain’s late efforts, which included removing their goalkeeper to put an extra outfield player on.
“It was an incredible game,” said player of the match Nick Park.
“We want to be in big games like these more and more, and find our way back to win. We really showed resilience and it’s always good going forward into the semi-finals.”
England’s men face Germany on Friday (20:00 BST) while their women’s team, who beat Scotland 5-0 in their final pool game on Tuesday, have a tough test in the semi-finals as they face Olympic, world and European champions the Netherlands on Thursday (16:00 BST).
