Hockey World Cup 2018: England knock out Ireland with 4-2 win
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By virtue of this win, the English side finished second in Pool B and will next play New Zealand, fondly known as Black Sticks, in order to set a clash up with Argentina in the quarter-finals.
England defeated Ireland 4-2 in a nail-biting game to reach the crossover stage and eliminate their opponents from the ongoing Hockey World Cup in Bhubaneshwar on Friday.
By virtue of this win, the English side finished second in Pool B and will next play New Zealand, fondly known as Black Sticks, in order to set a clash up with Argentina in the quarter-finals.
A draw today would have sent Ireland through, and they twice managed to come from behind to level at 2-2 in the third quarter.
But James Gall restored England's lead and they held on in the final quarter before Mark Gleghorne scored a penalty corner with the last play of the game.
"It's always a tight game against Ireland and they caused us quite a lot of problems," said man-of-the-match Liam Ansell.
"But we knew that if we could take our chances then we would win the game and we did that here.
"We never wanted to draw the game - in these tournaments it's about building momentum from game to game and that's what we're trying to do."
Ireland finished bottom of Pool B, one point behind third-placed China, who drew with England and Ireland in their first two games.
