Moore insists the future's bright despite World Cup disappointment

ENGLAND'S Rob Moore insists his side are still heading in the right direction, despite missing out on a top-three finish at the Hockey World Cup in Delhi earlier this month.

ONLY WAY IS UP: Rob Moore believes England are on the right track after finishing fourth in the World Cup in Delhi

England romped through their opening four pool matches in India with spirits high after a morale-boosting victory over perennial bogey-team Australia - their first for 25 years.

The European champions' challenge took a turn for the worseas they lost their final pool match to Spain before suffering a semi-final defeat to Germany and desperate last-minute loss to the Netherlands in the bronze medal match.

But going into the tournament ranked sixth in the world, England punched above their weight to finish fourth with a squad missing key forwards Simon Mantell and Matt Daly and after losing stalwart defender Richard Mantell to injury halfway through.

And Moore, who began his playing career with Trojans Juniors and currently plays for Surbiton, is adamant it was a case of mission accomplished in India, having guaranteed a spot at this summer's Champions Trophy in Munchengladbach.

"Losing in the semi-finals was hard to take, having done as well as we did to start with. Going out at that stage was very disappointing," said Moore.

"But overall I think it was a brilliant experience and hopefully in a few weeks I will be able to look back with happy memories of the tournament.

"I think as a team we will look back on the World Cup and see it as a step in the right direction.

"We did set ourselves some goals as a group. We knew we could make it to the semi-finals but we didn't necessarily expect it would happen.

"We didn't really have the ideal preparations going into the tournament but we knew that if we played up to our potential then we could get out of our group."

Despite his success in an England shirt, Moore is already turning his attention to the Olympics and joining forces with the other home nations under the GB banner.

And as one of the more experienced members of the GB team, Moore - who featured at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics - is as excited as ever about competing on the grandest stage of all.

"The Olympics is very much on our radar, it is a massive event and we need to build on what we have done here," he added.

"We still have the Commonwealth Games and Europeans to go before that though which will be great stepping stones to the Olympics.

"Since the Athens Olympics in 2004 the team has been completely turned around under Jason Lee. There are only a few of us left in the squad that played out there.

"After the tournament there were wholesale retirements and that opened the door for younger players who have come through and done brilliantly in the last six years.

"I think that is already showing in the way we play and hopefully it will continue to do so as we build on what we have already achieved."