England vs Netherlands LIVE: Result and reaction as Lionesses produce stunning Wembley comeback

Call off the inquest, turn off the alarms: the real Lionesses are back. How motivated are England to qualify for next summer’s Olympics? Well let this thrilling second-half comeback against the Netherlands at Wembley answer that question. With their hopes of reaching the Nations League finals on the line and down 2-0 against the Dutch, England produced a stunning turnaround to claim a vital win, with Ella Toone steering in a dramatic stoppage-time winner to rescue the Lionesses from a nightmare night.

That was what Sarina Wiegman’s side looked set for after what was perhaps their poorest first-half performance under the Dutch manager. Wiegman’s former side were far sharper, far hungrier, but the Lionesses showed all of their resilience and battling qualities when they needed them most. England tore through the Netherlands after the break and, by the end, were thoroughly deserving of victory, even if there is still more to do.

Report from Wembley

England boss Sarina Wiegman maintained full faith in her side to stage the stunning second-half comeback that lifted the Lionesses to a 3-2 win over the Netherlands in their penultimate Women’s Nations League group-stage clash at Wembley.

Needing a victory to remain in contention to finish top in Group A1 and advance in the tournament, which serves as a qualifier for next summer’s Olympics in Paris, England quickly dug themselves a hole after Lineth Beerensteyn netted twice before the break to put the Dutch 2-0 up.

But the Lionesses battled back after the restart on a frigid night in London, Georgia Stanway and Lauren Hemp stoking the crowd back into a frenzy by the hour mark before substitute Ella Toone sealed a dramatic victory in stoppage time.

Wiegman said: “I was actually pretty calm. I was very disappointed they scored the second goal because I didn’t think we played bad. The second goal we were a little bit unlucky, it was an unnecessary goal. We didn’t play bad but we needed some more. We truly believed we could turn it around. We never lost trust.”

An emotional Mary Earps apologised to her England team-mates despite the Lionesses coming from behind to beat the Netherlands at Wembley.

The goalkeeper, who captained the Lionesses and has had an outstanding year for the national team, saw a soft shot from Netherlands forwards Lineth Beerensteyn slip through her fingers as the visitors took at two-goal lead before half time.

The Lionesses came roaring back after the break and won 3-2 thanks to Ella Toone’s stoppage-time strike, but England will head into Tuesday’s final Nations League fixture against Scotland knowing that the Netherlands remain in charge of the group.

England needed to beat the Dutch by two goals to take control of their Olympics qualification hopes but now need to either win against Scotland by three more goals than the Netherlands - or hope they fail to beat Belgium.

Earps was in tears after the game and held her hands up depsite England going on to secure victory at Wembley. “I thought the girls were unbelievable to come back into the game,” Earps told ITV. “I thought they were unbelievable.

“I am just sorry that my performance has cost the team tonight. That [second goal] will haunt me for a long time today, I am really gutted because it could have been a really special night.”

More here:

Wiegman on Beth Mead: “She had a very good impact, I think it was really impressive, coming back from an injury, coming back in with Arsenal and then coming back in to this environment with 72,000 people, it was very good.”

Wiegman on what is needed on Tuesday against Scotland at Hampden Park: “How we approach is first that we have to win that game, and that’s what we’re going to do, of course we’re going to put them under pressure to try and score as many goals as possible, we need to win with three more than what the Netherlands do if they win.”

Some more questions for Wiegman:

Concern over the issues arising in the last couple of months: “No I think this was a totally different team against a very good opponent, and I think their first goal was just a great counter-attack, the Belgium game we lost the ball in a moment when we didn’t expect to lose the ball and I think we played a lot better than in the other games.”

On the defeatist reaction of the players at the final whistle: “The team knows exactly what we have to do, and I think we were very close to a 4-2 and that was the disappointment and that would have totally changed the situation. I am really proud of the team in how we stepped up and how we showed resilience.

When asked about Mary Earps, Wiegman said she had words with the goalkeeper following her comments, adding: “Of course she didn’t let the team down, I think you only let your team down when you don’t put effort in the game and we never didn’t put effort in the game.

When asked about her reaction at 2-0 down, Wiegman said: “I was actually pretty calm, I was very disappointed they scored the second goal because I thought we didn’t play well.

“The first time they came in our half of the pitch was on 11 mintues and they scored straight away, the second goal was a bit of an unlucky goal and we played bad.

“We truly believed we could turn around, and the players believed that too, if we scored one goal...we never lost trust.”

Sarina Wiegman has just come into the press conference...

England manager Sarina Wiegman told ITV: “I feel a little bit strange. I am really happy with the win but in the end you hope you win by two goals so you’re in a better position. But, coming back from 2-0 down and how we showed up in the second half was so well done. It was a good performance. Overall it was a really good game.

“We started well and were totally dominant but they came with one counter-attack and went 1-0 up. It was a good goal from there.

“We said at half-time that we weren’t playing badly, but yes we’d conceded two goals and we had to do better but keep going because they are struggling too.”