MANY England fans, those in Newton Abbot and further afield, would have expected Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins to accrue more minutes at the European Championships thus far.

Harry Kane added a third goal in the tournament from the penalty spot to level things up against the Netherlands tonight, but he still hasn’t been at his best.

Watkins’ opportunities to make the difference in the place of the England captain have been few and far between, and yet here is booking the Three Lions’ spot in a second consecutive Euros final.

The Newton Abbot schoolboy entered the fray alongside Chelsea’s Cole Palmer with 10 minutes remaining, and the pair linked up to flip the game on its head in Dortmund.

Palmer played the through-ball and then Devon’s finest made no mistake in rifling the ball into the far, bottom corner of Bart Verbruggen’s goal.

It was the Dutch who opened the scoring after just seven minutes through highly rated youngster Xavi Simons, but Kane’s controversial penalty made it 1-1 in the first half, before Watkins saved the England faithful from another 30 minutes of extra time.

Whether you support Exeter City, for whom Ollie made 78 appearances, or Plymouth Argyle, against whom he scored a few truly special goals, seeing the local lad score the winner for his country is a wonderful moment.

Now it is only Spain who stand between a historic tournament victory and Watkins & co!