ENGLAND’S Four Nations ended in predictable fashion with a 36-18 against Australia in front of 35,569 at London’s Olympic Stadium.

Although Scotland’s draw against New Zealand had given the hosts a glimmer of a chance of reaching Sunday’s final at Anfield, Mal Meninga’s ruthless Roos soon ensured that the door was slammed shut in the second half.

The manner of the defeat will leave the English game with plenty of head scratching and soul-searching if Wayne Bennett’s side are to do any better in next year’s World Cup Down Under.

If there was a silver lining it came in the performance of Jonny Lomax, who grabbed the England shirt with both hands in the absence of Sam Tomkins and was arguably the home player of the tournament.

Having been on the fringes of the national squad in recent years, only for two significant injuries to deny him, the 26-year-old full back was sound in defence and with the ball created a half chance for Mark Percival and a scoring pass for Jermaine McGillvary.

Lomax’s display will come as a massive relief and crowns a year in which he properly announced his comeback after returning from a second knee reconstruction, playing a big part in Saints’ end of season flourish.

Having made his debut in the French warm-up against France in Avignon, Lomax kept out Stef Ratchford and Dan Sarginson to keep his place for all three matches of the Four Nations.

Lomax said: “I’ll take positives from the experience, out of the whole year to be honest.

“If someone had given me this opportunity in January, I’d have bitten their hands off with the past few years that I’ve gone through.

“So I think this experience and what I have learnt will stand me in good stead, it can only improve me as a player.

“It’s obviously results-based so I was gutted with the way Sunday’s game turned out. We were desperate for the win.

“We just went through a period when we didn’t get our hands on the ball and we bombed a few opportunities.

“Against a team of Australia’s pedigree, you’ve got to be clinical. They were and we weren’t at times.”

England made a reasonable start but were guilty of lapses in defensive concentration, which combined with a couple of errors with the ball close to the line and a failure to find touch with two penalties hurt them on the scoreboard.

In the second half the Australians, led by Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and Jonathan Thurston, went into overdrive.