GREAT Britain’s hockey reached their third consecutive Olympic semi-finals after Southampton-born Maddie Hinch’s shootout masterclass against Spain, and insisted “as a ‘keeper I think you shouldn’t fear a penalty shootout.”

The goalkeeper – hero of the Rio 2016 gold medal shootout – kept out every single Spanish effort while Hannah Martin and Sarah Jones scored two of Great Britain’s three attempts.

That came after a gripping quarter-final match up ended 2-2, with Great Britain scoring two beautiful goals through Martin and Grace Balsdon.

But Spain – who lost 3-1 to Great Britain at the same stage in 2016 – fought back valiantly, producing two equalisers of their own through Belen Iglesias and Berta Bonastre.

That means Great Britain will meet The Netherlands for the second time at this Olympics in the semi-final at 02:30 BST on Wednesday 4 August.

Speaking to GB Hockey, Hinch said: “As a ‘keeper I think you shouldn’t fear a penalty shootout as it’s a chance for you to do your part. I didn’t fear it today, I felt ready and that I’d done my homework. I could have let all five in or saved all five, that’s just how it goes, but it certainly helps when we’re putting them in the back of the net as well.

“I’m quietly confident in my ability to do it but it doesn’t always go like that. You’ve got to take it one shootout at a time, celebrate each save and get the hype going. All of that plays into the Spanish heads and I’m glad we didn’t have any more as I was getting a little tired!

“There’s a lot of homework that goes into it. I had a bit of an idea of what they might do. We actually lost to them as England in a shootout not too long ago and I knew what I did wrong there. It was really nice to get the win today. I’m really proud of the group.

“I think, going into the semi-finals, there’s an advantage of maybe that it’s still in the back of the minds of the Dutch. I’m sure they’ll say it isn’t but it probably still is a little bit. We gave them a bit of a scare in the group stages which is also really helpful, but the game is going to be tough.

“I’m just so proud of what we’re delivering here and that’s the number one thing we wanted. We said we to go home delivering what we’re delivering and if that gives us a medal then great, and if not then we can still be proud of what we’ve done.”