Danny Kerry admitted England were second best as their World Cup hopes on home soil were ended by a 2-0 defeat to defending champions Holland.
The Dutch dominated the quarter-final at the Lee Valley Hockey Centre in London and deservedly progressed thanks to superb team goals from Lidewij Welten and Laurien Leurink.
England created little in attack, managing just one shot at goal, as the seven-time champions comfortably saw out the game to set up a semi-final with Australia on Saturday.
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Despite elimination, coach Kerry was pleased with the effort shown by his players.
“I told them I’m really proud of them. We’ve had a really tough tournament for all sorts of reasons,” he told BT Sport 2.
“I’m really proud with the way they went about it today. Holland were the better team; the better team has won.
“Other than two passes (for the goals), we defended really well.
“As an effort and as a coach, you can’t really ask for more for the way they went about their business.”
The Dutch had 11 shots to England’s none in the first half and went ahead with just over a minute of the first quarter remaining when Welten fired a first-time finish through the legs of England goalkeeper Maddie Hinch.
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— England Hockey (@EnglandHockey) August 2, 2018
Leurink added the second early in the third period, slotting in to an unguarded net from close range after Frederique Matla drew Hinch before squaring the ball.
“The scoreline was tight at 1-0, we knew there would be long periods of pressure and I think had we held it there then we were always going to be in the game,” Kerry added.
“It was still achievable at two, despite Holland dominating the possession, and we had to keep on believing, but unfortunately young players, fatigue, some of the thinking under pressure went a little bit, but that’s understandable given the volume of running we’ve done.”