Danny Kerry has called on his England side to forget the result and focus more on the performance after suffering defeat at the hands of Japan in the Hockey World League Semi-Finals.
England had been riding high following their opening game victory over Poland in Johannesburg, but this time found themselves on the wrong end of a 1-0 scoreline.
In truth it was a result against the flow of the game, as Kerry’s side boasted 12 shots to Japan’s two, though Mami Karino scored after just three minutes.
Chances were few and far between after that, but a resolute defence proved to be too much for the side ranked second in the world, though Kerry knows the tournament is far from over ahead of Friday’s game with Germany.
"Japan started quicker than us and it was a big contrast to playing a slow game against Poland in our first match,” he said.
"In the second half we controlled the game and Japan had little to no opportunity whilst we had a number of chances which just didn’t quite fall right for us.
"Importantly we played well in the second half and we need to focus on that rather than the result."
Japan stormed out of the blocks in South Africa and got their reward through Karino, making no mistake after a left-wing cross caused confusion in the D.
But despite their disadvantage it was England who looked in control, though nobody was able to tap home a cross from Sarah Haycroft, making her 50th international appearance.
Maddie Hinch came to the rescue to prevent Japan going 2-0 up, but the final 15 minutes saw England throwing everything at their opponents.
Lily Owsley almost produced a bit of magic, dancing round two defenders before firing wide, while captain Alex Danson forced an excellent save from the Japanese goalkeeper.
And with the clock running down, England forced two penalty corners, though neither nestled into the net as they were left with a rare shutout.
The next action for Kerry’s side comes on Friday, at 5pm, where Germany await as the race for the knockout stages goes on.
Sportsbeat 2017