England returned to form to ultimately do enough for a semi-final spot as they defeated Scotland 5-0 in the women’s EuroHockey Championship.

In a passionate battle, England were on their way when Tessa Howard scored the first of her three goals in the 16th minute, a calm finish following Ellie Rayer’s floated through-ball into her path.

Grace Balsdon slammed in a corner for the second before half-time and she repeated the trick late in the third quarter for 3-0.

Howard then produced a piece of individual magic, first battling to turn over possession and then getting the ball falling away from goal where she swung out a stick and caught it perfectly, hitting the top corner.

Her hat trick was complete with three minutes to go getting a tip to Balsdon’s corner push.

Balsdon said of the win: “We played some periods of really good hockey over the last two games but not the whole 60 minutes so that’s what we wanted today, to be proud of what we did so that whatever happens later [between Ireland and Germany], we can have no regrets.

“We were disappointed in not creating much against Germany in that second and so, unfortunately, Scotland were going to get it from us today, showing what we are all about, more attacking and putting on relentless pressure.”

Women’s Pool B: England 5 (T Howard 3, G Balsdon 2) Scotland 0