Henry Weir admits England need to start delivering at the business end of tournaments after finishing the 2014 Champions Trophy in seventh place.
It had all looked so promising for England in India as they topped Pool A following wins over Australia and Pakistan as well as a 1-1 draw with Belgium.
However, they were unable to maintain that momentum in the knock-out stages, losing to quarter-final opponents and eventual champions Germany.
It left them contesting the 5th-8th place classification matches, with defeat to Argentina then meaning a battle with Belgium to avoid picking up the wooden spoon.
That fate was avoided as David Condon’s double and a Chris Griffiths goal ensured they at least went out on a high with a 3-2 win.
And Weir, a member of the Team England squad which recovered from their semi-final loss to Australia to take bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, insists lessons can be learned.
“We know we can play good hockey and we’ve had some fantastic results against the teams who are now in the top four, but we need to produce our best game when it really matters and that’s in the knock-out stages,” he said.
“It’s really tough, especially with the good start to the tournament that we had, but I think we all got together and realised that getting this experience now and putting everything into this game will help us to go away from here and learn a lot.
“Last game of the tournament, a man down and we had to dig deep to get the result.”
© Sportsbeat 2014