England beat European Champions the Netherlands in a competitive match for the first time during coach Jason Lee’s five-year tenure thanks to goals from Surbiton’s James Tindall and Matt Daly at Bisham Abbey on Sunday.

The home team got off to the best possible start just eight minutes in when Beijing Olympian Tindall dispossessed a Dutch defender deep inside his own half. 

As he entered the circle his initial effort was blocked and the ball spun to Barry Middleton, who plays his league hockey in Holland for HGC, whose shot came off his Dutch club mate, goalkeeper Guus Vogels, falling nicely to Tindall who passed the ball into the empty goal on his reverse stick.

With the wind in their sails England (ranked 7th in the world to the Holland’s 4th) surged forward again and Tindall had the 850-strong crowd gasping a minute later as his shot flew inches wide.

The game began to settle into something of a rhythm after that with Netherlands happy to let England hold possession in their own half. 

A couple of Dutch forays forward came to nothing and it was England who extended their lead in the 18th minute through another of Surbiton’s five Beijing Olympians in the England side, Matt Daly, who did well to control a long aerial pass down the inside-right channel. 

As he entered the circle to shoot, a good challenge from Marcel Balkestein seemed to have killed off the chance but with Daly, Balkestein and the onrushing Vogels all on the floor it was Daly who reacted quickest to the loose ball, knocking it in for a 2-0 lead.

That advantage did not last long however with the first of Taekema’s double; a ferocious penalty-corner conversion dispatched powerfully high to James Fair’s left side.

England’s response was to attack with pace, the impressive Middleton causing trouble with darting runs behind the Dutch back line.

Moments before the break Lucas Judge had the opportunity to level things for the Dutch but his powerful reverse-stick effort was well saved by Fair using the stick high above his head.

After the pace of the first of half, the second half began at a somewhat slower tempo with England probing at the Dutch defence but failing to find the killer touch in front of goal; the best chance flashing past Ashley Jackson, who also plays his club hockey in the Netherlands for HGC, from Surbiton’s Richard Alexander’s powerful cross from the left.

At the other end Judge had another opportunity to level the scores but failed to connect with Teun de Nooijer’s flick from the baseline and the Netherlands were made to pay just minutes later when Daly netted goal number three, deflecting in low from close range after Jackson had beaten two men to provide the pass.

This was the spark that reawakened the Dutch, who won a penalty corner soon after.  Again it was Taekema who did the damage from the set piece. 

This time his low flick was partially saved by Fair, who managed to stick out his left foot, but the ball squirmed off it and over the line to cut England’s advantage.

A goal down and with fewer than 15 minutes remaining the Netherlands began to exert more pressure on the English defence, winning another corner which Roderick Weusthof fired towards goal but the shot came off another Surbiton player, Rob Moore, to deflect wide. 

Then, good combination play between Weusthof and De Nooijer along the base line created an opening but Fair stepped out well to block the initial effort and De Nooijer could only hit the side of the goal from the follow up.

With the clock ticking down the English supporters had their hearts in the mouths as first Fair saved well to his right from a Taekema penalty corner before tipping the ball onto the post from another in the dying seconds.

When the hooter went a minute later the vocal support rose in unison to applaud a superb England victory over the European Champions.

Speaking afterwards, a happy Jason Lee said freshness was the key for his side: “Most of the guys did not take part in our practice match yesterday afternoon (which Holland won 3-1) so they were fresh for today and I think that made the difference.  This is the level we’ll be playing at the Europeans in August so it has been good practice.”

Two-goal hero Daly was delighted with his part in the performance.  “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. 

“But we won’t be reading too much into beating the European Champions because this was a one-off game, but it’s a good start.”

Ben Hawes was the fifth Surbiton Beijing Olympian in the England team and all five will expect to be in England’s 18-man squad from which the teams to play a three-match series against India at the University of Birmingham next Wednesday (29 July, 18.30), Friday (31 July, 18.30) and Sunday (2 August, 11.00) will be selected.