New Zealand head coach Stephen Kearney was left to a rue a series of missed opportunities, but conceded England were deserved winners in Sunday's Test match.
The Kiwis stormed into a 10-0 lead after 16 minutes at the KC Stadium, but were left reeling as tries from Josh Hodgson and Brett Ferres levelled the scores by half-time.
And England were completely dominant in the second half as Ferres' second and a late try from captain Sean O'Loughlin made it 26-12 and handed the hosts a 1-0 lead in the three-Test series.
Kearney felt that New Zealand should have been more clinical and is aware they face an uphill task to turn the series on its head.
"In the second half we didn't execute what we wanted to. That was the disappointing thing, but England put a lot of pressure on us. They did a great job in defence," he told BBC Sport.
"We've got plenty of improvement in us though. We had a couple of opportunities we didn't take as well as we could have done, but we move to next week.
"England were marvellous, and we've got a really tough challenge ahead of us."
New Zealand will look to respond when the sides meet in the second Test at London's Olympic Stadium next weekend.