The Netherlands gained a measure of revenge over England’s women at the Argentina Hockey World League Final with head coach Jason Lee wanting retribution of his own in their next fixture.
England defeated the Olympic champions on penalties in the European Championship semi-finals of back in August but suffered a cruel reversal in their second World League Final match.
Victorious over Korea in their opener, two goals in the last three minutes from Maartje Paumen, her second after opening the scoring early on, and Kitty van Male gave the Dutch a 3-2 win.
England responded to Paumen’s sixth-minute opener with goals either side of half-time, Georgie Twigg with the first while the Dutch put into their own net for the second and a 2-1 lead.
However back came the Dutch and, with Germany next up in their final pool encounter, Lee wants revenge for the European final defeat which saw England lose 2-0 on penalties themselves.
England play Germany, who drew 2-2 with Korea, on Tuesday and Lee said: “It will be a different game as Germany play in a very different style to the Dutch.
“They’ve had the better of us over the last 12 months, but the games have been very close, including of course the last time we played them in the European final when it was 4-4 after 70 minutes.
“It was a strong defensive display overall but it was our attacking play and creating chances that let us down.
“We need to be pushing a team like the Netherlands far more throughout the game, not just holding on. We gave the ball away too cheaply at times and in the end that cost us the game.”
© Sportsbeat 2013
Photo Frank Uijlenbroek / England Hockey