Captain David Ames believes a never-say-die attitude will serve Team GB’s men’s hockey team well in Sunday’s quarter-final against India.
Ames' side lost their unbeaten streak in the final pool game of Paris 2024, as Germany clinched top spot in the group with a 2-1 win at Stade Yves-du-Manoir.
Christopher Ruhr struck twice in the second quarter to give Germany a firm control on proceedings before Gareth Furlong halved the deficit with 20 minutes to go and despite coming close late on, an equaliser failed to arrive.
After finishing third in Group A, Paul Revington’s side will play Group B runners-up India in the quarterfinals at 9am BST on Sunday.
“I thought it was a good start, we came out the blocks really well,” said Ames. “When they scored we didn’t get back into the game as well as we would have liked to and then conceding the second was always going to be difficult against a Germany side who defend very well.
Into the quarter finals 😎
— Great Britain Hockey (@GBHockey) August 2, 2024
The men will be up against India on Sunday 🇮🇳 #Paris2024 #Hockey pic.twitter.com/o4edXsqMcc
“Then in the second half, I thought we played pretty well and had a number of chances to get back into the game and then we were just unfortunate at the end with a corner which hit the post so on another day it could have been a good point, potentially a win but full steam ahead to India on Sunday.”
GB have largely played their best hockey in the second half of matches, battling to the end to secure invaluable draws against South Africa and the Netherlands before completing a comeback victory against France in the final quarter.
Furlong’s goal 10 minutes from time against Germany set up another grandstand finish and a full 60-minute performance will be needed again in Sunday’s last-eight tie with Tokyo 2020 bronze medallists India.
“It bodes well for us,” added Ames.
“It shows that we’ve got a squad that doesn’t give up and fights to the last minute and we’ve been doing that for the last four games in a row – either battering on the door or hitting the post or crossbar, so we’re going to need that against India who are going to be an incredibly hard challenge for us and let’s see what happens.”
GB’s women are in action first over the weekend, taking on Argentina on Saturday morning with qualification for the knockout stages already guaranteed.