The Hockeyroos have finished fifth in the Rabo Champions Trophy with a 2-1 win against New Zealand overnight.

Donna-Lee Patrick scored twice for Australia ending a tournament where things didn't go as planned for last year's finalists.

Winning their last two matches though, against eventual winners Germany on Saturday and New Zealand on Sunday, will give the team some confidence leading into a critical stage of their World Cup campaign.

The Hockeyroos have a number of areas to improve on in the next ten weeks leading up to Madrid, particularly in attack where national coach, Frank Murray, will be looking for more accuracy from his strikers.

Donna-Lee Patrick showed some of that accuracy in Sunday's play-off when Nikki Hudson brought the ball into the circle and found an open Patrick who tapped it in for Australia's first goal, in the 50th minute.

It was a good result for the Hockeyroos who were down to ten players after Emily Halliday was yellow carded for a stick challenge and sent to the sidelines for ten minutes.

Patrick made it 2-0 in the 60th minute with some more soft touch deep in the circle after some clever work from Karen Smith found her open in front of goal for her second. She nearly made it three goals immediately after but her strike from the top of the circle hit the post.

New Zealand were able to get one back, their first goal of the tournament, when Honor Dillon scored, however, with two minutes left in the match Australia managed to hold on for the win and fifth place.

The result was the Hockeyroos' worst in a Champions Trophy with their second game draw against New Zealand costing them dearly.

With such an even tournament though the difference between first and fifth comes down to a missed shot, or one sloppy tackle, which is why Murray will be using the next ten weeks to fine tune his charges so that they are primed for their assault on the World Cup in September.

He will use the four-nations tour to America as a further step to get things right - with the Hockeyroos playing the USA, Argentina and the Netherlands in August.

Playing against the top two teams in the world will give the Hockeyroos some great match practice leading into the most important tournament this year - the World Cup.

The Hockeyroos will depart for the US tour on August 12 with the tournament running from August 17-27 in Maryland and Virginia, USA.

Hockey Australia