Dan Fox insists England aren’t getting ahead of themselves despite topping their Hockey World League Final group thanks to an emphatic victory over New Zealand.
Having already seen off the challenges from hosts India and Olympic champions Germany, England faced off against the Black Sticks knowing that a win would see them sweep their group.
And that is exactly what happened as another three points came England’s way, Ashley Jackson giving them a narrow 1-0 lead with the only goal in the first half.
After the break Jackson grabbed a second before Mark Gleghorne gave England an even healthier lead – both goals coming from penalty corners.
New Zealand then hit back with a penalty corner of their own – Hugo Inglis scoring – but England grabbed two more goals through Tom Carsons and Barry Middleton to run out 5-1 winners.
The result means that England will face the fourth-place finishers from Pool B, one of Australia, the Netherlands or Belgium, and Fox admits they are already looking forward to the challenge.
“It’s going really well so far and it’s great to finish top of the pool with three wins, but we know the big match is on Wednesday in the quarter finals,” said Fox, who was named man of the match in the victory over New Zealand.
“Every side in this competition is really strong, so I couldn’t pick out an opponent, but we’ll go into the game high on confidence and ready for the challenge.
“Our performances out here are down to the work we’ve been putting into our training over the last four months back home.
“We’ve been playing at a really high intensity for long periods to ensure that we can maintain the work rate across 70 minutes.”
© Sportsbeat 2014