01 December 2023 , 23:01
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England boss Sarina Wiegman said she is "really proud" of the way her players "stepped up" in their stunning Nations League comeback against the Netherlands.
The Lionesses came from two goals down to topple the Dutch at a raucous Wembley Stadium, with Ella Toone bagging the winner in stoppage time. Lineth Beerensteyn opened the scoring for the visitors inside 12 minutes and netted a second before the break after an error from Mary Earps.
It looked like England were headed for a second consecutive defeat before a quickfire double from Georgia Stanway and Lauren Hemp restored parity in the second half. Toone's strike in the 91st minute means Wiegman's side now move up to second in Group A1, keeping their double-pronged dream of Nations League progression and Olympic qualification alive.
And Wiegman said she never lost faith that her side could turn things around. "I was actually pretty calm," she said. "I was very disappointed they scored the second goal because I thought we didn’t play bad.
"The first time they came in our half of the pitch was after 11 minutes and they scored straight away. That was a good goal. I think the second goal was a little bit unlucky. It was an unnecessary goal.
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"We definitely needed some more, especially being two goals down, and we truly believed we could turn it around. If we scored one goal, we thought they could be shaky. Overall, we never lost trust."
After the game, goalkeeper Earps said she felt she had let the team and admitted her error in the first-half will "haunt her for a long time". When asked whether she had spoken to the Manchester United shot-stopper, Wiegman said: "I spoke to her very shortly and I don’t want her to talk like that because we win as a team and we lose as a team.
Ella Toone (R) celebrates her goal with team-mate Rachel Daly (Hollandse Hoogte/REX/Shutterstock)"Everyone makes mistakes and when something at the back happens very quickly it can be a goal. That is part of the game. Of course she didn’t let the team down. You only let your team down when you don’t put any effort into the game."
The Dutchwoman added: "The team knows exactly what they need to do and I think we were very close to the 4-2 and that would have totally changed our situation so that was the disappointment. But I’m really proud of the team and how we stepped up and showed resilience and really turned round the game."
England now have a few days to recover before another crucial game against Scotland at Hampden Park. In order to keep their hopes of topping their Nations League group and qualifying for the Olympics alive, they need to beat the Scots and hope the Netherlands fail to win against Belgium.
If the Dutch do triumph over the Red Flames, the Lionesses will need to win by at least four clear goals. Looking ahead to the clash, Wiegman said: " First now we do some training then we do recovery and then we get prepared for Tuesday. How we were on the pitch the first half, that’s what we want on the pitch on Tuesday.
"First of all you want to win the game and then you want to score as many goals as possible and then we’ll see what happens."