Holcombe keeper Maddie Hinch almost single-handedly earned GB a gold medal with an imperious display and penalty shootout heroics to beat the Netherlands on Friday night.

Former Sutton Valence School pupil Susannah Townsend of Canterbury Ladies and Hinch's Holcs teammates Sam Quek, Nic White and Shona McCallin played their part as GB bravely withstood a battering from the double Olympic champions, only for White's late strike to ensure a 3-3 draw and penalties.

Hinch - who is moving to play in Holland for SCHC next season - was the star for GB with a string of saves to keep the 2008 and 2012 gold medallists at bay during normal time and then proved unbeatable in the shootout, allowing Hollie Webb to spark wild scenes with the crucial conversion after Helen Richardson-Walsh had held her nerve to open the scoring.

Earlier Lily Owsley gave Britain the perfect start with a neat close-range finish after a mesmerising run into the D by Sophie Bray.

However the World No1 levelled second into the second quarter after a lightning break which saw van Male drive past Hinch to her left before slashing a reverse stick strike from an angle into the roof of the net.

The goal sparked a spell of dominance from the Oranje and Van As rattle the bar after working herself a yard near the edge of the D, however it was from a penalty corner that the Dutch made it 2-1.

Hinch had already made two stunning saves - one of them a quickfire double - to keep the Netherlands out but she was beaten by a low strike from Paumen which also evaded Helen Richardson-Walsh on the line.

However GB bounced back almost immediately and with the Dutch defence at sea a speculative ball into the D broke to the unmarked Crista Cullen at the back post who bobbled the equaliser with a first-time shot to ensure it was all square at half-time.

The Dutch won a string of Penalty Corners after the turnaround but though Hinch was equal to the first three of them, the Netherlands changed tack and Van Maasakker swung a subtle pass past the defence for Van Male to sweep home her second six minutes into the third period.

Somehow Britain clawed their way back into it and after winning their first two Penalty Corners of the match, the ball broke from a melee after an Alex Danson shot for Holcombe's White to sweep home with her back to goal to ensure the dramatic penalties.

Hinch said: “That was a huge team effort. The dutch are a fantastic side. We definitely back ourselves in the shootout. Goalkeeping has its highs and lows. You can be a villain, but you can also be a hero in the moment.

“It helped that the Dutch had a shootout in their semi-final, so that gave me a chance to see what they do, but I basically give myself a game plan for each player and I execute that and thankfully it worked. Thankfully the Dutch did what I thought they would do.

“3-3, what a great advert for hockey. That’s what we want to do, showcase our sport and I’m so pleased it was a good game.”

White added: “This is what we dreamed of and now we’ve got it. No-one can ever take that away from us.

“We’ve now gone unbeaten through an Olympic tournament, which is unreal. It’s the first time we’ve been to the final, so for us we’re over the moon.

“We always knew it was going to be very close but physically we stuck to it. We really put the legwork in to try and get them on the counter and get up the pitch.”

Coach Danny Kerry - formerly of Canterbury Ladies - said: “We know we’re good at shootouts. We have some tough competitors and probably the best goalie in the world in shootouts. As soon as it went there I knew we would win.

“Today we had to defend, we had to dig trenches, but we changed things in the last quarter and it paid off.

“Eight of the group are multiple Olympians and we needed that experience today.”