England have made a habit of tumbling out in semi-finals in recent years but midfielder David Condon insists the rot will stop tomorrow at the Commonwealth Games.
Loughborough's Condon was in action yesterday as England rounded off their group campaign with a 3-1 victory over Canada.
That success sealed their progress through to the final four and set up a clash with Australia, the No.1 ranked side in the world and defending Commonwealth champions.
England's recent record in big competitions makes for familiar reading, losing out in the semi-finals at this year's World Cup, the London 2012 Olympics – as Great Britain – and four years ago at Delhi 2010.
But, after comfortably seeing off Canada, Condon is confident that he and his teammates are more than ready to set the record straight.
"As a group, the final is our goal so by no means are we settling for the semi-finals now that we are there," he said.
"We have notoriously been a team that have got to the semi-finals and not performed so looking forward now, playing Australia might actually be a gift.
"We know that if we don't go out there and perform then we may as well say goodbye to that final.
"There's no doubt within our group that if we perform on the day we can definitely match and beat Australia.
"They are relentless though, we saw that at the World Cup, so we know that if we don't match them, we have no chance."
Skipper Barry Middleton, who also scored in England's win over Canada, admitted that the relaxed team environment was building confidence ahead of the final knockout stages.
"It should be fun playing against Australia, that's who you want to play in big tournaments," he added. "I think a big part of elite sport is getting the culture right, giving people the best chance to perform to the best of their ability.
"The team environment is good, everyone is pretty casual and chilled but ready to switch on at the right time.
"It's nice to be going into games feeling that it is not luck if you play well, it's just what you do every game."
