England boss Roy Hodgson: Netherlands penalty was harsh

By Andy Burton

Image: Roy Hodgson saw his side beaten at Wembley

Roy Hodgson was left to rue two controversial refereeing decisions as England were beaten 2-1 at Wembley by the Netherlands on Tuesday.

England led thanks to Jamie Vardy's 41st-minute goal but the Netherlands levelled after the break when Danny Rose was penalised for handling a cross and Vincent Janssen converted the spot-kick.

Luciano Narsingh then scored a controversial winner 13 minutes from time after strong complaints from England that Phil Jagielka was fouled by Janssen in the build-up.

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"Of course I was [angry], I can't deny that," said Hodgson. "I don't think the decisions were particularly favourable to us. The second one in particular was exceptionally harsh.

"The first one is a decision which is given these days which unfortunately I don't agree with. I believe that to give handball it's got to be absolutely deliberate. I see these decisions given every week and whether I agree with it or not it doesn't make a lot of difference.

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Image: Jamie Vardy gave England the lead

"I was more disappointed we didn't reach the level of intensity or creativity we did on Saturday night, and our domination of the ball and our domination of possession didn't lead to enough goal chances, so that disappointed me most.

"If he had given the foul for the second goal, and we had come in here not having lost, I still wouldn't come in here feeling particularly happy because I was hoping for a better performance, as were the players, especially in front of such a fantastic crowd."

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The defeat was England's first at Wembley since November 2013, however it was a heavily-rotated side, with only three players starting who were also in the XI for the win over Germany on Saturday.

Image: Danny Drinkwater (L) made his debut for England

While Hodgson agreed that the defeat meant his team had lost valuable momentum, he said they will learn lessons as they look ahead to Euro 2016.

"I suppose whenever you have two very good victories and then you lose a game momentum is lost, I don't know what I can say tonight to change that pretty obvious fact," he said.

"All I can say is that it was a different team to the one that played against France and Germany. A lot of players were playing who haven't played of late, so the task for them was obviously a little bit harder, but we've got plenty of games to get our momentum back.

"We've got three preparation games before we go to France so there is plenty of opportunity to regain momentum and learn lessons from tonight's defeat." 

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