Belper's Hollie Pearne-Webb thrilled as Team GB win hockey bronze

Belper’s Hollie Pearne-Webb played a key role as she skippered Great Britain’s women to a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics with a thrilling 4-3 victory over India.
Hollie Pearne-Webb celebrates scoring Team GB's third goal with Sarah Robertson and Isabelle Petter during the women's bronze medal match between Great Britain and India. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)Hollie Pearne-Webb celebrates scoring Team GB's third goal with Sarah Robertson and Isabelle Petter during the women's bronze medal match between Great Britain and India. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)
Hollie Pearne-Webb celebrates scoring Team GB's third goal with Sarah Robertson and Isabelle Petter during the women's bronze medal match between Great Britain and India. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Five goals inside a frantic second quarter saw GB go from 2-0 up, thanks to goals from Ellie Rayer and Sarah Robertson, to being 3-2 down at half-time after India rallied.

GB responded well and equalised five minutes after half-time through Pearne-Webb in another entertaining quarter.

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In what had been a gripping game throughout, Grace Balsdon’s brilliant drag flick at the start of the final quarter would prove to be the difference as GB took a well-earned bronze medal.

The result marks the first time ever GB’s men or women have recorded three successive medals at the Olympic Games.#

After the match, Pearne-Webb commented: "I’m incredibly proud of the squad. To the 16 who played and will get a medal, but also the three reserves who deserve a medal, plus the players at home not selected. We have 26 in the squad but so many more not selected. We've had a lot of turnover in the last five years, I wish they could all get a medal because they deserve one. That's why we're here and how we've achieved it.

"It's been a tough five years, at times we doubted whether we could do it, but we have.

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"It's so hard to sum it up. We've not had many highs in this cycle, and after winning in Rio, that's the biggest challenge. To bring a group all together after so many challenges, I can't even remember them all! We've sacrificed so much to perform as best we could. A few months ago, an Olympic bronze was just a dream but I'm so proud we've done it.

“There’s been so many challenges, I can’t recall them all. Not just collectively as a team but individually as well. It’s been tough for everyone back home in the last 18 months and that’s been the same for us. Some of the girls, myself included, haven’t seen our families for over a year. We’ve been locked down, Christmas on our own, and we did that because we wanted to come here and give the best performances we could.

“An Olympic bronze a few months ago was in our wildest dreams so I’m just so proud of the whole squad, the whole support staff, everyone that’s been involved that we can come away with something from here.

"At half time it was just a big deep breath. Go back to our game and believe in ourselves. We came out in the second half really well."

Pearne-Webb was also part of the Team GB side that won gold in the Rio 2016 games.