England vs Colombia, World Cup 2018: Jordan Pickford hits back after Thibaut Courtois’ criticism

Pickford saved the vital penalty to allow Eric Dier to score the winner

Jordan Pickford has put his penalty shootout heroics down to the extensive research and swipes back at Thibaut Courtois who mocked the England goalkeeper's height when conceded from Adnan Januzaj.

Harry Kane scored from the spot in the 56th minute against Colombia, but England were denied a win in the third minute of added time when Yerry Mina equalised from a corner.

Kane and Rashford scored their penalties before Jordan Henderson saw his effort saved. Mateus Uribe's effort for Colombia cannoned off the bar and Kieran Trippier levelled the score. Pickford saved Carlos Bacca's effort to set up Dier to win England's first ever penalty shootout.

"I did a lot of research on them for starters. Falcao is the only one who didn’t go his way," Pickford revealed on ITV.

After Pickford let Januzaj's shot sail above him in England's 1-0 defeat against Belgium, Courtois said: "The goalkeeper is 10cm smaller than me. I would have caught it. He was too bust throwing his legs in the air."

However, Pickford hit back at the Chelsea goalkeeper and justified his saving technique. "I just set my way and went with power. I’ve got power and agility I don’t care if I’m not the biggest keeper but I’ve got the power and agility to help us get around the goal and I’m very good at it. It’s about making the save and being in the moment."

Pickford made a vital save in the penalty win (EPA)

"We reset our minds and work rate," said Pickford when asked about how England felt going into extra-time. "We just never stopped but if it had to go to penalties we knew we were capable of winning."

Dier scored the decisive penalty and paid tribute to England's number one's attitude. "You know he’s a fantastic goalkeeper, fantastic attitude and he deserves everything. He was fantastic in the penalty shootout. He’s big in goal, he’s been brilliant in training and he’s taken it into the game."

After missing a good chance to give England the lead deep into extra time when he headed over after being left unmarked inside the penalty area, Dier said he owed his winning penalty to his teammates. "I felt like I had to score after that header I missed at the end there. I’m thankful I scored that," the Tottenham midfielder said. "I’ve never really been in the situation before."