England vs Colombia, World Cup 2018: Eric Dier says he needed to score winning penalty after missing chance in extra-time

England won 4-3 on penalties after a 93rd minute Colombia equaliser denied Three Lions win

Eric Dier says that he owed his England teammates his winning penalty after he missed a great chance to win the game in the 115th minute when he headed over after being left unmarked in the area.

Harry Kane scored from the spot in the 56th minute 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. Jordan Pickford saved Carlos Bacca’s effort to set up Dier to win England’s first ever penalty shootout.

“I felt like I had to score after that header I missed at the end there. I’m thankful I scored that.” said Dier on ITV after scoring the winning penalty. ”I’ve never really been in the situation before.

“To get knocked down at the end like we did with that goal in added time, it’s difficult to come back from that but we were ready for that we knew what we had to do we stuck to our plan we never panic all the way through extra time and we knew if it has to go to penalties then it has to go to penalties, and we were ready for that.”

Pickford saved Bacca’s penalty to give Dier the chance to put England in the quarter-final, and the Tottenham midfielder is full of praise for his ‘fantastic’ goalkeeper.

Pickford made a vital save to hand Dier a chance to win (AP)

“Incredible. 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.”

The England goalkeeper’s heroic was not an accident, and Pickford says that he was well prepared after researching the opposition.

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