Jackson celebrates Great Britain's opening goal against Japan

Great Britain got their Four Nations tournament off to a winning start as they beat Japan 6-4 in Nottingham.

Goals from James Tindall (2), Barry Middleton, Ashley Jackson, Nick Catlin and Jonty Clarke secured victory.

Japan fought back from 3-0 down to level at 4-4 before GB scored twice.

"We have not had a lot of time together so I was pleased that we had longer periods of good play in this match than we have in previous matches," said Great Britain coach Jason Lee.

"We are trying new things and playing people out of position, trying to be more expansive in our play.

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"It's rare that you get the opportunity to play your best 11 on the pitch at once but we're making no attempt to hide our youngsters."

Britain are next in action on Wednesday against Germany, who defeated New Zealand 3-1 in their opening game.

Japan coach Siegfried Aikman, meanwhile, was disappointed with his side having conceded early goals.

"We had discussed this before the game," he said. "I was pleased we could come back to 4-4, but it happened too early in the second half for us to shut down the rest of the game."

In the day's other match, New Zealand managed to reach half-time at 0-0 before Germany found their scoring touch in the second half through Benedikt Frk, Florian Fuchs and Christoph Menke field goals.

Japan play New Zealand on Wednesday.

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