By Oliver Rogers BBC Essex

Surbiton's Rob Moore is in the squad for Manchester

England coach Jason Lee is hopeful home support will help secure Olympic qualification for Britain at August's Eurohockey Nations Championship.

England need to finish in a medal spot in Manchester to claim, on behalf of GB, one of three places for Beijing.

"We don't play many games in England. In 2004 we played in Nottingham and beat Pakistan and Australia - unheard of - and the support was fantastic.

"It might be the thing that just pushes us to the Olympics," said Lee.

If England do not make the grade, the Great Britain men's team will have to play in qualifying events in New Zealand, Chile and Japan early next year.

We need to beat the top teams in the semi-finals and get ourselves qualified for the Olympics England coach Jason Lee

England men are ranked ninth in the world, following a better than expected World Cup finish of fifth in Germany last year and came fourth in the recent Champions Challenge played in Belgium.

"We're in much better shape than we were at the start of the previous championships two years ago," said Lee.

"We're more optimistic now than we were previously."

Lee says England need to avoid slipping up and to beat those countries that are snapping at their heels, like Belgium, France, Ireland, and the Czech Republic.

"Holland, Germany and Spain are ranked first, third and fourth in the world and we need to beat these top teams in the semi-finals and get ourselves qualified for the Olympics."

The Eurohockey Nations Championship starts on Saturday 18 August with England's men or women playing on most days. The women's final is the following Saturday with the men's match the next day.

For England's women, prospects of sealing a qualification spot for GB at the Olympics are looking positive. Canterbury forward, Cathy Gilliat-Smith is on good scoring form, and their first match will be against Ireland.