British win to no avail

Britain's Stott keeps a watch on Lopez of Spain

Britain's women hockey players finally had something to cheer about with a 2-1 victory over Spain at the Olympics.

Goals from Melanie Clewlow and Christina Cullen moved the side off the bottom of Group B.

But Friday's result was academic, with no possibility of making the second round after Spain's shock win over Argentina on Wednesday.

British coach Jon Royce claimed his team may have finished in a medal position if they had consistently played the standard of hockey they produced in beating Spain.

"If we had come out and played like that we might have only lost two and won three matches," he said.

It was always going to be tough here, but we failed to cope with the pressure

  Jon Royce

"Our youngsters have learned that you have to play right from the start and not take three (first) halves to get going.

"It was always going to be tough here, but we failed to cope with the pressure."

And skipper Pauline Stott said: "We had no fears about playing Spain because we've played them so often.

"We did well to keep up the pressure and we thoroughly deserved to win."

Meanwhile, Royce refused to apologise for verbally abusing a doping control official.

He received a one-match suspension for his outburst earlier in the week, but when asked if he would apologise said: "I might, it depends on how I feel.

"I don't want to discuss this matter further but I have strong feelings about doping control and will disclose them after the tournament."

World ranking

Now the British women have set their sights on improving their world ranking of ninth when they meet South Africa in a classification match on Monday.

Royce added: "I'm sorry we didn't achieve more after 12 months of training, excellent preparation and with the players full time but now we have to win our last two games."

In other results, the Germans - who needed a win to enter the second round - were held to a 2-2 draw by the Netherlands in their last group B match.

Both teams ended the preliminary round on five points and the same goal difference, but the Dutch moved ahead having scored nine goals to Germany's six.

The Dutch joined New Zealand and China from group B for the medal pool round which starts on Sunday.

Defending champions Australia, Spain and Argentina qualified from group A.

South Africa still finished last in group B, while Britain's late revival helped them move above the Koreans in group A with four points.