Daly inspires England to famous victory over the Netherlands

MATT Daly's sparkling double inspired England to their first victory over the Netherlands in coach Jason Lee's five-year tenure.

SMILES ALL ROUND: Matt Daly celebrates his two goals with team-mates as England down the Netherlands

James Tindall opened the scoring for England and Daly made it two, only for Taeke Taekema to pull a goal back for the European champions before half-time.

But Daly added a third after excellent work from Ashley Jackson and while Taekema grabbed his second of the game, England held on to secure the victory at Bisham Abbey.

"Most of the guys did not take part in our practice match yesterday so they were fresh for today and I think that made the difference," said Lee. "This is the level we'll be playing at the Europeans so it has been good practice."

But two-goal hero Daly insists England won't be reading too much into the result ahead of the European Championships next month.

"It's certainly the first time in quite a while that we've beaten the Dutch and it's especially nice to get two goals today," he said.  "We won't be reading too much into beating the European Champions though because this was a one-off game but it's a good start."

The hosts got off to the best possible start after just eight minutes when Tindall stole the ball inside his own half.

As he entered the circle his initial effort was blocked but the ball eventually fell to him with the simplest of tasks of rolling it into the empty net.

And it got even better for England on 18 minutes when Surbiton's Daly expertly controlled an aerial pass and despite crashing to the ground after a strong challenge from Marcel Balkestein, he kept his composure to find the net.

The lead was back to the one just four minutes later however as Taelema netted his first of the match, smashing home from a penalty corner.

The second half began at a slower tempo but it was England who regained their two-goal advantage when Daly deflect the ball home after Jackson had beaten two opponents.

Again Taekema dragged his team back into the match from a penalty corner and in the last 15 minutes the Netherlands laid siege to England's goal but some resolute defending and fine goalkeeping from James Fair ensured the hosts were victorious.

England's next test comes hot on the heels of their Dutch victory with a three match series against India at the University of Birmingham from July 29 to August 2.