Lingard’s lone strike gives England victory over Netherlands

Jesse Lingard’s first international goal extended England’s unbeaten run to seven games and gave them a deserved friendly victory against the Netherlands in Amsterdam.

Lingard made the decisive contribution just before the hour, arriving on the edge of the penalty area to fire low past Dutch keeper Jeroen Zoet, who got a hand to the shot but could not keep it out, BBC reports.

It was just reward for manager Gareth Southgate and his players after a controlled display with an experimental side, including Kyle Walker on the right side of a three-man defence.

Southgate’s only complaint will be England should have made more of their domination of possession, though they should also have had a penalty when Marcus Rashford was brought down by a combination of Zoet and defender Matthijs de Ligt.

Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford had the satisfaction of keeping a second successive clean sheet for England, although there was a setback when Liverpool’s Joe Gomez went off early through injury.