Four-times champion Pakistan went down in a hard-fought match to England in the play-off for 5-6 positions at the men's hockey World Cup in Monchengladbach, Germany, on Saturday.
A Martin Jones goal three minutes from close carried England to a 1-0 victory over Pakistan.
Pakistan lost their cool and their way, which resulted in two yellow card suspensions to Shakeel Abbasi and Adnan Maqsood.
England, runners-up to Australia in 1986, showed the discipline required to bide their time before delivering the killer punch as Jones dived to deflect home a cross from James Tindall, who snatched the ball from a slow-moving skipper Saqlain Muhammad.
It was England's best-ever finish since 1994 when they came in fifth at the Sydney World Cup while Pakistan, fifth in the previous two tournaments, occupied the sixth position.
In another match, The Netherlands overcame New Zealand 3-0 to finish seventh.
Two goals by Roderick Weushtof (34th, 49th) on either side of Taeke Taekema's 40th minute conversion was the highlight of the Dutch victory.
This year's Champions Trophy winners matched their 1986 World Cup performance in ending up seventh while New Zealand finished eighth.
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