Wayne Bennett remains confident his England team are still on the right track despite a 34-0 thrashing at the hands of New Zealand in the third Test.
England took out the first two Tests in tight encounters in Hull and Anfield, but were blown off the park in the final match by a rampant Kiwi outfit in Leeds.
Kodi Nikorima ran the show and Ken Maumalo finished with a double in a one-sided New Zealand performance.
But veteran Australian coach Bennett was unconcerned with his England side missing a raft of key players through injury and suspension such as George Burgess, Sam Tomkins and captain Sean O'Loughlin, along with NRL stars Sam Burgess and Gareth Widdop.
"It's not taken the gloss off the series win, not for me personally," he said.
"I wasn't happy with the performance but I accepted what happened and understand probably better than most. You never see a scoreline that coming, but it happens.
"[It was down to] Probably a combination of things, injuries, being at our best for a couple of weeks, we didn't have a lot of luck.
"I walked into the change room and there's Sean O'Loughlin, Sam Tomkins and George Burgess were all looking at me. We had a stack missing as it was and that just added to our problems.
"The boys overcame a lot of stuff in this series."
England have beaten New Zealand three times out of four encounters this year, with a victory in Denver in June, as well as accounting for France last month.
They pushed Australia hard in last year's World Cup final but now won't face the Kangaroos until 2020.
"We're going in the right direction," Bennett maintained.
"New Zealand have got quality players, they all play in the NRL. Today was their best game."
Kiwis coach Michael Maguire admitted he could see a dominant display coming from his squad.
"I thought the boys have definitely been growing to a performance of that calibre and I'm really pleased defensively we were very strong," he said.
"I felt that when we first came into camp. We missed an opportunity I think [in the first two Tests].
"That's something that is a big thing... we've definitely grown. I've got a lot of belief in this group.... We're building in a big way."
The Kiwis started strongly at Elland Road and took the lead after just four minutes through Maumalo.
It was a bruising opening period with several high shots going unpunished by referee Gerard Sutton.
England had three tries ruled out by the video referee and eight minutes before half-time Isaac Liu broke through under the posts after running a great line off Nikorima.
The Brisbane playmaker was causing havoc and right on half-time he burst through the line, found Johnson in support and then took the return ball for a brilliant try to make it 18-0.
In the second half New Zealand continued where they let off, Maumalo grabbing his second try off a Nikorima kick just four minutes in.
Both teams were reduced to 12 men at stages with both Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Jermaine McGillvary sin-binned for professional fouls.
The Kiwis turned the screws in the dieing stages with Jesse Bromwich and Joe Tapine both touching down.
