England, whose previous best finish was fifth in 1999 and 2001, had started the day in fourth spot in the six-team table with either Germany or Spain better placed to reach the final.

But they ground out victory over New Zealand for their second win of the tournament to finish with seven points while Netherlands defeated Germany 1-0 to leave the hosts on six points.

England coach Jason Lee is building belief in his players that they can be competitive at this level.

"The players now believe they are a quality side," said Lee.

Australia finished the group stage with a perfect five from five record thanks to a 3-1 win over Spain and will start as favourites against England, who have beaten them only once in a competitive fixture in 35 years.

England had New Zealand on the back foot from the first push back allowing James Tindall to score in the first 20 seconds, the country's fastest Champions Trophy goal.

Andrew Hayward kept New Zealand in the match, converting his first penalty corner from his third chance, after seven minutes.

Simon Mantell (pictured) and Tindall scored again for England before the break.

"It's tough to come back from 1-3 down at the break," said New Zealand skipper Phillip Burrows.

Hayward converted New Zealand's sixth penalty corner and brought New Zealand back into contention at 3-3, flicking New Zealand's eighth penalty corner inside the right post with five minutes to play.

England pressed for the winning goal in the last two minutes, earning a penalty corner, converted by Richard Smith's flick.

New Zealand claimed a video referral for an infringement by England as the siren sounded.

The video was inconclusive and New Zealand lost the chance to convert one last penalty corner to equalise.

"I felt we conceded goals too easily and we were on the back foot from the start because the game changes as soon as you are a goal behind," said New Zealand coach Shane McLeod.

Mink van der Weerden broke the hearts of the near-capacity crowd by converting his first penalty corner for the only score of the match to deny Germany a place in the final.

Germany coach Markus Weise saw an intense match with missed opportunities from his team's seven failed penalty corners.

"It was not a match with great quality as both teams needed to win which usually leads to a game like this," said Weise.

Australia ensured Spain missed out on the final.

Jason Wilson celebrated his 20th birthday with Australia's first goal before Pau Quemada replied in the last seconds of the first half, deflecting in a drive from Santi Freixa.

Russell Ford and Des Abbott combined for Australia's second goal and Abbott deflected in a low penalty corner flick from Luke Doerner in the second half.

Australia coach Ric Charlesworth said that in the final he was looking for a vast improvement on the group game where his team edged England 3-2.

"We came to play in the final and now we know we are playing England we will be looking to improve on our poor performance in the pool round when we played badly in the second half," he said.