Mark Sampson took great satisfaction from England’s hard-fought victory over Netherlands in their final match of 2016.
The Lionesses went into the Tilburg encounter unbeaten in nine, but they were far from their best at Koning Willem II Stadion.
And yet they managed to avoid defeat for a 10th game thanks to Jodie Taylor’s cool, second-half finish.
Netherlands 0-1 England
Women's International
Tuesday 29 November
Koning Willem II Stadion, Tilburg
Head coach Sampson said: “We needed a victory like that.
“We’ve been playing well recently, and winning quite comfortably, so it was nice to have this type of test. We weren’t at our best but we found a way to keep a clean sheet and win.
“They are my favourite wins. It’s great when you play well – and when we play well we’ll beat anyone – but when you don’t play so well you need to find a way to win, and we did that.
“Our rhythm wasn’t there and we weren’t finding the spaces.
“But we just had to be resilient, show lots of character, stay in the game and wait for a chance – and I’m delighted that we took that chance.”
England have lost just two of their 12 matches this calendar year, to World Cup holders USA and European champions Germany, the top two sides in the FIFA rankings, and have won seven of their last eight matches.
Sampson’s charges qualified unbeaten for next summer’s Euro finals, which are being staged in Netherlands.
They have been drawn in Group D alongside Scotland, Spain and Portugal.
Jodie Taylor latches onto a through ball to score the winner
Sampson added: “Ten unbeaten is a great record in any form of football, let alone international football.
“Looking at 2016 as a whole, it has taken the top two teams in the world to beat us, and even then that was just by one goal each time, so we know we’re a very difficult team to play against.
“This is the end of a long, long season for our players. Some of our players are shattered. But they ground out that win – and that’s exactly what they are going to have to do in a tournament.”
Sampson has had another reason to celebrate recently, having becoming a father for the first time earlier this month.
He revealed: “It has been amazing. There has obviously been a massive change to my life and my family’s life but it has been amazing.
“That’s another reason why the win was so important; I didn’t want to lose for the newborn!
“So it’s great that little Amelie saw her dad win for the first time.”
