England women's hockey coach Jason Lee insisted there were plenty of positives as his side finished their World Cup warm-up tournament campaign with a victory.
Goals in each half were enough to overcome a tough Japan side in their final match of the Four Nations Tournament in Bremen.
Alex Danson scored late in the first half, and Lily Owsley doubled their advantage in the second half to help Lee’s side to victory.
“This was a much better technical performance, and we didn’t make the same mistakes as in the previous day,” he said.
“We had good possession for long periods. There was much more fight and endeavour in the group, and it’s a good performance to take forward to the final stage of preparations for the World Cup.”
However, Bobby Crutchley's England men's team lost 3-2 to Belgium in their warm-up match with Belgium.
Iain Lewers’ first half goal and Ashley Jackson’s strike late in the game came after England had worked hard to create good pressure on the Belgians, but too many chances went begging.
“It was a game of contrast with plenty of good signs but also some disappointment,” said Crutchley. “We didn’t utilise good circle possession to create clear goal scoring opportunities and our reactions were slow in front of goal.
“We were also hampered by playing without Harry Martin and losing Dan Shingles very early on in the game.”
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