Melis strike downs England

England 0-1 Netherlands
Manon Melis scored the only goal in the 78th minute as the Netherlands earned a surprising but deserved victory against England in Swindon.

Decent crowd
A crowd approaching 6,000 was in attendance at the County Ground in expectance of a convincing home success, England having beaten the Dutch 4-0 at Charlton in their recent qualifying campaign for the FIFA Women's World Cup and in the last week overcome Russia 6-0 and Scotland 1-0 in friendlies. This loss will have provided a valuable learning curve on the road to September's World Cup finals for Hope Powell's team, particularly as playmaker Kelly Smith - the scorer of a hat-trick that night - was stifled for much of the game by Anouk Hoogendijk, 21.

Early drama
Nevertheless, England thought they had opened the scoring after four minutes, only for an offside flag to deny Katie Chapman. England's Rachel Brown was the busier of the two keepers, denying Manon Melis and then Sherida Spitse, who almost put one in at the wrong end soon after only for Loes Geurts to spare her blushes with a smart save. Smith and Rachel Yankey then both went close for England before Melis showed them how to do it, collecting a fine pass from forward Janna Torny and drilling the ball low into Brown's goal, to give the Netherlands hope as they prepare for their opening UEFA European Women's Championship qualifier next month against holders Germany.

Powell philosophical
England manager Hope Powell said: "Holland were far more astute than they were at Charlton. They were also fresher than us - we had some heavy legs out there. The game swung one way then the other, but when they scored I felt it was against the run of play. It won't do us any harm losing a friendly game, though - it will keep our feet on the ground as we continue our preparations for the World Cup finals."