Wirral hockey star Sam Quek wins Olympic gold - thrilling penalty shootout final in Rio

Around 40 of Sam's family and friends had gathered to watch the game at the Devon Doorway pub in Heswall to cheer on the former Birkenhead High School pupil as Great Britain faced the Netherlands in the final.

Great Britain's women hockey team had never before won Olympic gold

Sam, 27, is central defender for the British team who have won every single one of their matches in the competition.

She later tweeted: "Yes that's an OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL!!!! Nanna that was for you, thank you for holding on xxxxx"

Coach Danny Kerry had said he had a feeling it would be Great Britain's day - and so it proved as British keeper Maddie Hinch's heroics and Hollie Webb's penalty shootout strike earned Olympic gold.

The Netherlands - ranked number one in the world - were chasing their third successive Olympic title.

None of the players in the current Dutch squad had ever lost a match at the Olympics.

But their faces fell as the final ended 3-3, with Britain twice coming from behind.

And Britain were ready.

Danny said: "We know we're good at shootouts. We have some tough characters taking them and we have probably the best goalkeeper in the world.

"Even though we didn't play very well in the first three quarters. I thought 'yes, we're making hard work of it, but we're toughing it out'.

"Some days you know you're going to win."

Lily Owsley and Crista Cullen were on target in normal time, while Kitty van Male scored twice and Maartje Paumen once for world champions Holland, before Nicola White's last-quarter strike levelled the match and the game went to penalties.

Holland had numerous chances and were continually repelled by Hinch, who delivered again in the shootout.

The 27-year-old from West Sussex said: "I just stayed in the moment. I never thought we were going to win or they were going to win.

"When I saw we were going to get a corner, I had a good feeling. When they hit the crossbar, I had a good feeling, when they missed the (penalty) stroke, I had a good feeling.

"Sometimes in sport it has to go your way. We've had a bit of luck this tournament, we've also generated our own luck and played well."

Helen Richardson-Walsh converted a penalty flick after Georgie Twigg was fouled and Webb kept her cool to net the decisive effort after Hinch had time and again denied the Dutch.

The team's performance is the best in Olympic hockey history. PICTURE: Great Britain Hockey

Webb, who was a spectator when Britain won London 2012 bronze, imagined she was in a little corner of Berkshire when she stepped up.

She said: "I just tried to block everything out and just think, this is just at Bisham (Abbey), I'm just practising.

"I'd done my homework, I knew going up what I was going to do. I didn't actually feel nervous."

Kate Richardson-Walsh, the team's captain and wife of Helen, said: "I was so confident. I honestly felt that the more the crowd booed, the more that Helen was going to score.

"To win an Olympic medal is special, to win an Olympic medal with your wife standing next to you, taking the penalty in the pressure moments is so special. We will cherish this for the rest of our lives."

Helen Richardson-Walsh, who had missed her shootout attempt moments before, said: "As soon as it was a stroke I was really confident I'd go up and slot it home.

"It was a really strange feeling. I felt like I was back at Bisham at our training base.

"The more the boos came the more I felt 'bring it on'. I didn't get a clean connection.

"It kind of dribbled into the corner, but it went in, so I don't care."

The match had echoes of last year's European Championship final, when England came from 2-0 down at the end of the third quarter to draw 2-2 and win on penalties against the same opponents.

Kate Richardson-Walsh was involved in that game but she revealed the Olympic final will be her last international appearance.

It is likely to be Helen Richardson-Walsh's last, too, after also playing in four Olympics. The pair will move to Holland to play for Bloemendaal next season.

The team also hope they can spark interest in the sport, as when Britain won in Seoul 28 years ago.

"We want to inspire young boys, young girls, everybody to pick up a hockey stick," Kate Richardson-Walsh said.

"Two years ago we sat as a group and came up with our vision. Our vision was to be the difference, create history and inspire the future.

"I feel like we've done that."

Unitl last night, Britain had only won two Olympic women's hockey medals - both bronze - in 1992 and 2012 although the men's team took the title at the Seoul Games in 1988.