England were beaten 3-1 by the Netherlands in the semi-finals of the Rabo EuroHockey Championships as Mirco Pruijser scored twice for the hosts.
Mink Van der Weerden had put Netherlands ahead in front of a vocal home crowd with Pruijser extending the lead almost immediately.
And Pruijser had his second before Mark Gleghorne hit a stunning drag-flick from an England penalty corner but it is the Netherlands who face Belgium in the final.
England will compete for the bronze medal against Germany at 12.30pm UK time on Sunday.
Despite 10,000 home supporters filling the Wagener Stadium in Amsterdam it was England who made the stronger start with Ollie Willars forcing an early save from Pirmin Blaak.
And it was Blaak who was needed again at the end of the first quarter to save David Condon’s fierce effort to keep the scores level.
England were made to pay for those missed opportunities as Van der Weerden struck with a reverse stick shot after Liam Sanford had blocked his initial penalty corner effort.
Barely a minute later and it was 2-0 to the hosts as Pruijser ended a lightning fast counter-attack from the Netherlands with a bullet into the bottom corner.
Billy Bakker created the Netherlands’ third with a burst down the left before pulling the ball back into the circle where Pruifser was on hand to reverse volley home a loose ball.
England gave themselves faint hope of getting back into the semi-final when Gleghorne’s powerful drag-flick found the top corner of Blaak’s net in the final quarter.
Chris Griffiths almost pulled a second goal back for England after a neat ball from Barry Middleton but from the narrow angle his shot went wide of the post.
England threw everything at the Dutch in the closing moments, with Pinner removed for a kicking back, but the Netherlands held firm to secure their spot in Sunday’s showpiece. Sportsbeat 2017