By Lucas Ball
Holcombe’s Ollie Payne started all four matches in Great Britain’s final leg of the FIH Pro League in the Netherlands as Paul Revington’s side won a podium place in their final competitive preparation for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
GB won two, drew one and lost one of their four matches against Germany and Belgium, missing out on the bonus point in the draw as they lost the shootout.
The trip kicked off with a 3-1 defeat to Belgium with the returning Liam Ansell on the scoresheet before Revington’s men rallied to beat Germany 1-0 a day later courtesy of Zach Wallace’s penalty corner goal, Payne keeping a clean sheet as GB earned their ninth Pro League win of the season.
Wallace was on the scoresheet again next time out as Great Britain impressively beat Belgium 3-1, former Holcombe player Sam Ward scoring the other two goals.
Ward scored another brace yesterday and was joined on the scoresheet by another former Holc in Phil Roper as GB drew 3-3 with Germany before losing 4-2 in the shootout to miss out on the bonus point.
Just a point, though, was enough to lift them above Argentina and into third to make it back-to-back years on the podium in the Pro League following last season’s second-placed finish.
New Head Coach & Director of Hockey Kwan Browne was also in the Netherlands as an assistant to Revington.
Another ex-Holc in David Ames was also involved in the Netherlands with five former Holcombe players involved for Great Britain’s women across their matches.
David Ralph’s side, which includes Miriam Pritchard, Laura Roper, Charlotte Watson, Sarah Robertson and Sarah Jones, ended their Pro League campaign a day later then Great Britain’s men.
Their Pro League campaign ended with four defeats in five stretching back to the last London fixture against Australia.
Germany and Belgium ran out 2-0 and 2-1 winners respectively in the first two matches in the Netherlands before Ralph’s side suffered a 4-1 loss to Germany in their third match.
They ended their campaign with a 1-1 draw with Belgium before winning the shootout 4-2 to finish seventh in the Pro League standings.