England sealed another three points from their final group game against New Zealand at the Hero Hockey World League Final, to finish top of Pool A.

Ashley Jackson scored the only goal in a tight opening half, but England stepped up a gear in the final 35 minutes as the floodgates opened. Jackson added another to his tally, alongside Mark Gleghorne, Tom Carson and captain Barry Middleton to make it 5-1 and seal their place at the top of Pool A.

The result means that England, featuring former Ipswich School duo George Pinner and Harry Martin, will face the fourth place finishers from Pool B, Belgium.

The Hero Man of the Match award went to Holcombe’s Dan Fox who looked ahead to the crucial quarter-final battle: “It’s going really well so far and it’s great to finish top of the pool with three wins, but we know the big match is on Wednesday in the quarter finals.

“Our performances out here are down to the work we’ve been putting into our training over the last four months.

“We’ve been playing at a really high intensity for long periods to ensure that we can maintain the work rate across 70 minutes.”