It has been all about comebacks at the FIH Pro League so far and Great Britain today staged a stunning comeback to upset Spain 6-5 in a goal-scoring rampage during Spain’s home leg at the Estadio Betero, Valencia.

Hosts Spain started the match from where they left in the opening clash of the Pro League when they mounted a heroic late comeback to draw 2-2 with World champions Belgium before beating them on a penalty shootout.

But today’s match saw a crazy first quarter where the Spaniards put their name on the score sheet first with a Xavi Lleonart goal in the 2^nd minute and a rebuttal from the British in the next minute to level things up with an Adam Dixon turn and finish. The drama in the first quarter followed further with Marc Bolto, Diego Arana, Albert Beltran each scoring at a blink of an eye to put Spain 4-1 up at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter saw a more circumspect show by the two teams, though the team GB pulled one back after advantage was played on and Zach Wallace benefited from that to get his first goal in a Great Britain shirt.

After the half time break, Great Britain started positively and nearly reduced the gap further by one but Sam Ward’s shot missed the goalpost by a whisker. The Britons kept up the pressure and eventually won back to back PCs and converted each of them thanks to Mark Gleghorne and Adam Dixon to make it even stevens at 4-4.

With everything to play for in the final quarter, the Great Britain captain led from the front and showed skillful brilliance in dribbling his way to the circle and firing in the shot to put Great Britain in front at the 47^th minute. The goal spree continued with David Condon’s rebound giving the visitors a 2 goal cushion in the 57^th minute before Alvaro Iglesias brought the Spaniards back into the game with a goal in the next minute. But that was all as the Britons thwarted each wave and a couple of Penalty Corners coming at them in the dying moments to clinch a victory in their opening clash.   

The FIH Pro League is a brand new global hockey competition that brings action from the highest level with Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Netherlands, New Zealand and Spain competing in the home and away men’s league.