The European Championships at London’s Olympic Park ended in triumph and a gold medal for St Albans Hockey Club player-coach Hannah Macleod.

In the starting line-up for Sunday’s final against the Netherlands, Macleod contributed an immense performance as England dramatically turned around a 2-0 deficit in the final quarter before winning a penalty shoot-out in front of a sell-out crowd.

Macleod was in the thick of the action, in the firing line in penalty corner defence which kept the Dutch at bay in the first half, and on hand with the expert deflection which led to the England equaliser.

The England women’s manager was St Albans goalkeeping legend John Hurst, while the England men, who lost a semi-final penalty shoot-out against the German team on Thursday before missing out on bronze to Ireland on Saturday, were managed by St Albans men’s head coach Andy Halliday.

Meanwhile several St Albans players participated in the Euro-masters hockey tournaments including the event hosted at Oaklands, with gold medals for Liz Cleverly (England Over 45s), Chris Thornhill (England Over 60s) and Chris Parker (England Over 75s) and silver for Sarah Embrey (England Over 40s), David Sheridan (England Over 60s), Nigel Strofton and Graham George (England Over 70s).

This weekend sees club hockey restart at Oaklands with senior trials and BBQ all day tomorrow followed by the men’s 1st XI hosting Milton Keynes at 4.30pm.

Junior hockey restarts on Sunday morning and there is an open invitation all weekend to everyone, of whatever age or experience, to come along, try the sport or see the facilities.