Taylor 'disappointed but proud' after defeat
Ferdinand's miss meant England lost the game
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England finished their Test series against the West Indies on a high as they overcame the tourists and some tricky weather conditions to secure a comfortable seven-wicket win in the fourth Test. |  |
Wednesday, 20, Jun 2007 11:29
England under-21s centre-half Steven Taylor said he was "disappointed" to have lost their epic semi-final with Holland on penalties but felt the side could still be proud.
Stuart Pearce's men were leading with one minute of normal time remaining in the game when the Dutch equalised, despite Taylor having clearly injured himself in the heart of the England penalty box moments earlier.
The Newcastle United defender battled on throughout extra-time and was surprised when he was forced to take one of the spot-kicks, originally believing his injury meant he did not have to.
Taylor found the net but England were eventually denied a place in the final when Anton Ferdinand's second penalty came back off the bar.
He said: "It's the most disappointment in my career so far - coming so close and I thought we deserved better but it wasn't to be. We did ourselves proud and we kept battling."
Pearce said he had no complaints about Holland not putting the ball out when Taylor was down injured.
In their previous match England had played to the referee's whistle when a player was down injured and scored a vital goal against Serbia to qualify for the semi-final.
Pearce said: "Taylor was injured and possibly the ball should have been out but we have no complaints about that.
"We will hold our hands up. They carried on playing, they put the ball in our net - we had the chance to clear it, we didn't clear it, credit to them."