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Matt Daly's double boosted England's Olympic hockey ambitions as he helped them to a 3-2 victory over the Netherlands at Bisham Abbey that was the first in coach Jason Lee's five-year tenure.

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, England held on to win the one-off match.

"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 Daly insisted England will not 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.

It got 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.

England's lead was cut four minutes later 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 resolute defending and fine goalkeeping from James Fair ensured the hosts were victorious.

England next face India in a three-match series at the University of Birmingham from 29 July to 2 August.

More Than The Games / Eurosport