England youngsters suffer fourth defeat at Junior World Cup

ENGLAND Under-21s endured the bitter taste of defeat for the fourth time at the Junior World Cup in Malaysia on Monday and manager Andy Halliday admitted tiredness was beginning to set in.

After losing their opening non-medal pool match to Belgium on Sunday, the young squad had only 24 hours to regroup for their next match but fared no better against Japan, losing 2-1.

The Japanese were gifted an early lead within the first 30 seconds when a lack of concentration in the England backline resulted in a penalty corner which captain Ryota Kubo finished with aplomb.

Chris Griffiths put in the rebound of a penalty corner to equalise for England on 42 minutes but with 12 minutes remaining Kubo scored a second penalty corner to win the match for the Japanese.

A recurring theme for the tournament has been England's lack of composure in front of goal and Monday's match was no different with Halliday's men only converting one of their eight penalty corners.

"It's obviously disappointing because on paper we should have beaten Japan," admitted Halliday.

"We had plenty of corners in the match, plenty of chances, but for the first time in the tournament fatigue has taken its toll on our core skills.

"It will be interesting to see the character of the squad now - there's still plenty to play for in the coming days."

England will now travel to Singapore to face Pool G leaders India on Wednesday and after India's 4-0 victory over Belgium, England know they will be fighting it out for a best finish of 13th in their final two matches on Friday and Saturday.